Tomorrow's Dawn
by ElectricZ
Summary: ME2- Legion has been destroyed in battle, much to Tali's relief. When tasked with recovering the geth's memory, her feelings may prevent her from fulfilling her duties until she learns why it's so important. Most characters present. Ends with chapter 8, with alternate replacement ending in chaps 9-10. Prequel to "For Tomorrow We Die."
1. The Sole Casualty

**_Author's note: Takes place after both Legion and Tali's loyalty mission, after their showdown in the AI Core when Legion accesses Tali's omni-tool. Follows fics _Just Like Old Times, Friends Like These, Second_ and _The Lioness and the Bull,_ though none are required reading. _Just Like Old Times, Friends Like These_ and _Second _do contain some prior squad interaction to set the tone of the story.  
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"Medical emergency, hangar deck," EDI said in her characteristically calm tone. "Shuttle arriving, multiple casualties. Trauma team, report to hangar deck."

Tali dreaded the announcement of each returning mission. Because of Cerberus protocol, EDI's reports were always very sketchy, on a "need to know" basis. So she, nor anybody else outside of the command staff or medical team ever knew the extent of the injuries or the identity of the wounded until they were briefed. But she always imagined the worst.

As always, she stayed at her station. Her personal feelings for her crewmates always came after the safety of the ship. She looked to her right at Donnelly and Daniels. They were both silently monitoring their boards, but she could tell they felt the same apprehension. And true to their own character, they followed her lead and stayed at their stations as well. They would all find out soon enough. Minutes passed.

"Docking complete," EDI continued. "Chief Zorah, Report to the hangar deck."

Gabby and Kenneth both looked over at their superior with surprise. Tali was also taken aback at her summoning. She pointed to their monitors. "Stay here," she said. "I'll find out what's going on."

"Yes, ma'am," they said in unison and returned their focus to their instruments as Tali headed for the lift.

By her nature, Tali always looked for the worst-case scenario. It was vital to her skill as a troubleshooter: start at the core and work outward, ensure the most critical systems were functional, then look for failures in the periphery. She was not needed as a medic, so why was she being called? _A problem with the shuttle,_ she thought. _Propulsion or life support, maybe?_ As she strode to the elevator she spoke to the AI. "EDI, any information on the casualties?"

"No Tali, I'm sorry," EDI said. "All I know is that there is one critical injury, and one fatality. I do not have details at this time."

The word _fatality_ made her heart sink. "Is Commander Shepard all right?"

"Commander Shepard is uninjured."

_Thank the gods,_ Tali thought. The elevator door hissed open into the hangar bay. Support personnel swarmed the Kodiak shuttle. Dr. Chakwas and a pair of medical techs worked around a stretcher set atop a cargo crate as a makeshift operating table. The patient lying on his back screamed to no one in particular, his body covered with med packs and a stasis field from the waist down. Jacob held him down by the shoulders.

"Bloody goddamn praetorian!" Zaeed Massani growled through clenched teeth. "I'll fuck every skull it's got right in the eyes for this!" Next to the stretcher, a medic sprayed medigel over the ragged end one of Zaeed's legs. It had been severed at the thigh.

Dr. Chakwas's voice was calm. "It was a clean separation at both ends," she said. "You'll be back on both feet in an hour with some nice new scars."

"You're a goddamn angel, luv," Zaeed said as the anesthetic finally took hold and he passed out.

"I thought he'd never go under," Chakwas muttered. "Alright he's stable. Let's get him upstairs."

Tali stayed out of the way as the medical team attended to the human mercenary. She moved next to Jacob. "What happened?"

"Collector ambush," Jacob said, wiping sweat from his brow. "They hit us from all sides. Got hairy toward the end."

"EDI said there was a fatality," Tali said nervously. Jacob was obviously unharmed, and EDI said that Shepard was unhurt. "Who didn't make it back?"

"Legion," Jacob said, shaking his head. "Praetorian got him."

"Keelah!" Tali clapped her hands together. "I thought someone had been killed."

Jacob frowned at her. "Didn't you hear what I said? Legion's dead."

"Legion is a _machine," _ Tali said with more irritation than she intended. It bothered her how the other members of the crew regarded the geth as a 'he' rather than an 'it.' She was starting to think some of the crew did it on purpose just to annoy her. _"It_ can't die because it's not alive."

"Well, _it_ just saved our asses," Jacob said and turned to walk away. "So pardon me if I want to show _it_ a little respect. Shepard's waiting for you inside."

"I'm sorry," Tali said. Jacob probably didn't want to argue semantics after what had just happened. "Are you ok?"

Jacob stopped and sighed. "Yeah, I'll be alright. Didn't mean to snap at you. It just... didn't go well down there. Gonna go check on Zaeed. See you later."

"OK," Tali said and walked up the ramp to the shuttle.

She found Shepard alone in the passenger compartment sitting on the aft bench, staring blankly towards the front of the ship. She'd gotten pretty good at reading the Commander's expression, but she'd never seen his face so vacant. When he didn't seem to acknowledge her, she turned to see what he was looking at.

Legion had been strapped into one of the forward seats, presumably so its mass wouldn't shift in transport. Its superstructure sagged in the belts and its limbs dangled limply towards the deck. The usual flutter of its head panels and central iris were noticeably absent, and the lights on its head were cold and dark. White conductive fluid spilled onto the seat and floor around it.

"Is there anything you can do for him?" Shepard asked.

Tali bristled at he use of the pronoun. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't happy to see the geth inactive like this. If it were in fact damaged beyond repair, it would ease many of her fears about what information it'd been sending back to the collective. But she would at least take a look, for Shepard's sake. She activated her omnitool and waved the glowing interface around, casting strange shadows on Legion's inert form. She had seen dozens of geth destroyed and knew what to look for.

"Power output zero," she read the results aloud. "Batteries depleted. All generators burned out. Light physical damage to the exoskeleton. Sixty two perecent of its servos are out. Checking core memory matrix. Oh... that should have taken longer."

She turned off the tool. A wave of relief washed over her, and she fought not to show it. "Either its self destruct protocol triggered or there was a massive electrical overload. In either case there's not much left in memory."

"Damn it," Shepard whispered and leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees. He continued to stare at the destroyed robot.

Tali watched him for a moment. He was taking this much harder than he should have. Shepard was one of the worst offenders when it came to anthropomorphizing Legion and the others always followed his lead. But like with Jacob, she knew this wasn't the time for a lecture. Out of everything they had faced together he'd never looked so defeated. _No, that's not true,_ she thought. _He wore the same expression after Virmire. Something bad happened down there._ She sat quietly down next to him. "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do." She said. "What happened? I mean, if you want to talk about it."

"I don't know where to start," Shepard said.

"Well, that's OK," Tali said, trying to sound cheerful. "Why don't you go get cleaned up? I'll take care of things here. We can talk later."

Shepard leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. Then he stood up and stretched, rotating his right arm in front of him. "No, I've got to talk to the Illusive Man first, tell him about the collectors." At least now he looked at her, and managed a tired smile. "But thanks, Tali."

Tali desperately wanted to say something to lift his spirits, something funny or charming but it just didn't come. It would have been making light of whatever had happened – and that was the problem. Even though Legion was no more, she couldn't figure out what had transpired on the mission to affect Shepard so greatly. Had he caused Legion's demise? It was the only logical explanation for how he was acting, but why he would mourn a machine so was baffling.

Shepard looked over Legion's unmoving form. "Guess that armor didn't do either of us any good," he said softly.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I need you to do something, Tali," Shepard said.

"Of course. Anything!"

"I need you to access Legion's memory and see if you can piece anything together from the last day. Anything at all."

"Oh," Tali said, disappointed. "I don't know, it's taken a terrible shock. There might not be..."

Shepard looked back at her with such weariness and sadness it made her stop mid-sentence. She got up and took a step toward him. "I'll do everything I can. I promise."

Shepard nodded and stepped towards the shuttle's hatch. He gave Legion's shell a parting glance before descending wordlessly down the ramp.

Tali looked down at Legion. "Great. Just when I finally get rid of you..."

_Maybe this isn't a bad idea after all,_ she thought. She'd seen many inactive geth in various states of disrepair, but being a "mobile platform" Legion was unique. She could probably glean much information even from it even though it was inoperative. She might even be able to tell what it had done with the data it had copied from her omnitool two days ago. Legion said it had not transmitted the data, but she might now be able to find out if it was being truthful or not. That alone would be worth the effort.

_How father would have liked to examine this. _Tali's excitement at the prospect of dissecting the geth waned. It was this kind of tampering that got her father and everyone aboard the _Alarei_ killed. She stared at the derelict machine. It would be just as well to space the worthless piece of junk and be done with it. If only she could jettison her memories with it...

_You promised Shepard, _she thought. _You're not going to break your word. Not to him,_ she thought. She called into the air. "EDI, can you hear me?"

"Yes Tali, go ahead," came the immediate response.

"Please send a team down to move Legion to the science lab. I'll be along shortly. I'm going to need to get some things from Engineering."

"Right away, Tali."

Tali stepped through the hatch and the lights switched off behind her, leaving Legion slumped in its seat, alone in the darkness.


	2. Mourning

The main lift opened onto the operations deck where the ship's personnel bustled hastily about, preparing the ship for their next jump. Tali stepped out and spotted the Yeoman Chambers at her station. "Legion's being sent to the lab," Tali said. "Would you please let Mordin know I'm going to be working there?"

"Hi Tali," Kelly scribbled on her datapad. "Commander Shepard has already cleared it. It's terrible what happened down there, isn't it?

Tali looked away to the swirling galaxy map, her voice carefully neutral. "Hopefully his leg can be reattached."

"Oh, I meant Legion. Zaeed'll be fine," Kelly said. "The doctor's already halfway through the procedure. He's a tough old bastard. Guess we'll have a new war story to listen to tomorrow, huh?"

"Mmmm," Tali said and turned back to the lift.

"Wait, Tali," Kelly called after her. "Do you think you can fix him?"

"Fix who?"

"Legion."

"For the last time," Tali shouted loud enough for everyone in the CIC to hear. "Legion is not a _he_. It's a machine. I don't know why that's so hard for you people to get that!"

All eyes turned to Tali at her sudden outburst and the room fell silent. Kelly looked particularly stunned at the response.

Tali returned her stare with narrowed eyes. "And no, I don't think it can be fixed." She returned to the waiting elevator and descended to the engineering deck. She wished she hadn't yelled like that. Kelly Chambers was always kind to everyone on the ship, and didn't deserve that kind of treatment. She would have to apologize later.

She made a quick stop in engineering to make sure everything would be under control in her absence. Gabby and Kenneth were both quick to offer their help, but in spite of their good intentions they didn't have the experience working with geth constructs to be of use. Kenneth's offer of a massage did make her laugh, though, as did Gabby's smack on the back of his head. At least in her own department, it was business as usual.

After that, her next stop was her own quarters. The _Normandy's_ shop had amongst the finest collection of tools in the galaxy, but she would need specific items designed to work with Geth technology. She pulled a dusty satchel from beneath her bunk, opened it and inspected the contents. Everything was where she left it when she came aboard the ship from Haestrom. When Legion was first brought aboard, she never got to to examine it in depth before Shepard reactivated it. She wouldn't miss this opportunity. Maybe she could convince Shepard to release Legion to her when she was done, to send back to the fleet.

_Doubtful,_ she told herself. _Cerberus will likely grab it first. Besides, Shepard doesn't want to ruin the balance of power between us and the geth. _That last thought stuck in her mind ever since the Commander intervened when she caught Legion scanning her omni tool. She shouldered the bag and headed back to the lift.

No one in the CIC paid her any attention as she turned toward the science lab. She avoided making eye contact with any of them. Kelly stood at her podium, furiously manipulating the virtual interface. Tali walked quickly through the hatch to the lab, thankful no one tried to talk to her. The last thing she needed was more confrontation.

The hatch to the science lab opened, revealing a small crowd surrounding the research table. Mordin, Kasumi, Thane, Jacob, and Garrus all hovered over Legion, sprawled on its back in the middle of them.

"Come on bot-buddy," Kasumi wiggled one of Legion's fingers. "Wake up! Where's your reset button, huh?"

"I doubt he can hear you," Thane said. "There is no power in any of his systems."

"Of course he can hear me," Kasumi leaned close to Legion's central lens aperture. "He's just sleeping."

Jacob's expression remained dour. "Shepard said he was down for the count. That's what Tali told him, anyway."

"Unfortunately that's correct," Tali said. The group around the table all turned and said hello or nodded. No one seemed interested in the usual polite small talk, except Kasumi.

"Hey look, Legion! It's Creator-Tali'Zorah!" she said, now shaking Legion's wrist. "You'll be just fine. She can fix anything!"

Tali winced at Kasumi's use of Legion's title for her, as well as the thief's grating attempt at bedside manner for a geth. It was getting out of control. "I'm going to have to ask all of you to leave. I need to concentrate."

The assembled group looked at one another. Garrus waved toward the door. "Alright everybody, let's let her work. Why don't we go see how Zaeed's doing."

They started milling toward the hatch. Jacob gave Legion's shoulder a thump with his fist as he walked by and Kasumi gently placed Legion's arm across its chest and patted it lightly before walking away.

"It can't be fixed," Tali said as Kasumi passed. "I'm just recovering data."

"I know," Kasumi whispered and glared at Tali, nodding her head towards Jacob. "Would it kill you to at least pretend that you're trying?"

Tali turned away sharply and continued toward the table. Garrus watched her approach Mordin. Word traveled fast about Tali's earlier exchange with Yeoman Chambers. Tali was one of the most easy going people on the ship. But not today.

Mordin's fingers massaged the air before pulling a tray of probes and drills from a nearby drawer. "Never examined geth. Brand new exposure. Very stimulating! Where to start?"

"Thank you, Doctor," Tali said tersely. "But I would really prefer to work alone."

Mordin looked back and forth between Tali and Garrus. His huge black eyes blinked rapidly. "But... It's my lab."

"She needs to borrow it," Garrus said, "just for a little while."

Mordin clutched the tray of tools close to his chest. "Was here first!"

"Come on, Professor." Garrus beckoned with a talon. "Please?"

"Fine," Mordin said with a loud sniff, replacing his instruments one at a time in the cabinet. "Clearly not welcome. Will be in engineering then. Plenty of important things to occupy time there. Perhaps the Commander will drop by to play poker."

The salarian stalked out the door. When the hatch closed behind him, Tali breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks," she told Garrus. "I don't want an audience for this."

Garrus nodded. "You going to be okay here?"

"Definitely. Mordin's setup is much more appropriate for data operations than what we've got in engineering."

"That's not what I meant. Are _you _okay?"

Tali set her tool bag on the table next to Legion's feet. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You used to drag people in to watch you tear down one of these things. It was almost a spectator sport."

"Was it?" Tali searched through her satchel for nothing in particular.

Garrus leaned against the wall. "Look... We all know how badly damaged he is. No one's going to blame you if you can't bring him back."

Tali slammed her hands down on the table and whirled around to face the turian.

Garrus felt the temperature in the room drop twenty degrees. "Ah, I guess that's not what you're not worried about. What is it, then? What's bothering you?"

"What's bothering me?" Tali's eyes burned behind her faceplate. "Everybody treating Legion like its a damn person. Calling it 'he.' 'How's he doing?', 'Can you fix him?', 'It's terrible what happened to him!' Even giving it a name in the first place!"

"People treat machines with affection all the time," Garrus said calmly. "It's natural when you work with them in close proximity. Just ask your little friend Chik'tikka. I'm sure _she_ would agree."

"When was the last time any of you held a vigil for my combat drone?"

Garrus shrugged. "Never, now that you mention it. But I don't recall the last time she engaged me in meaningful conversation, either. Look, Legion was special, I'll admit it. I didn't particularly like him when Shepard powered him on, but he grew on me. He grew on all of us."

"Well then," Tali snapped. "All of you can go to hell."

"Hey, now-"

Tali's tone got louder and harsher. "These things wiped out my entire civilization and drove us from our homeworld! And the entire galaxy turned their backs on us. You, the asari, the salarians! You banished us from civilized space for creating artificial intelligence, and called it genocide when we tried to fight back! We have been completely ostracized by the entire galaxy for three hundred years!"

Garrus folded his arms across his chest and watched her as she paced around the table. This obviously ran a lot deeper than nicknames and the proper use of pronouns.

Tali stared down at Legion as she circled around. "They sided with the reapers. They attacked the Citadel. They've killed who knows how many of my people. My friends. My father..." she choked back her tears. "They've brought nothing but death and destruction wherever they go. And in spite of it all, the _quarians _are still the villains. Most planets would rather see the geth show up rather than the migrant fleet. And not once has anyone given us the tiniest bit of sympathy or help."

Garrus let his gaze drop. He knew she was correct. Quarians were viewed as a plague by most, even amongst his own kind. Untrustworthy, disloyal, deceptive... everything Tali was not. And collectively, over the centuries, the entire galaxy quietly learned to ignore them.

Tali gripped the edge of the table and looked down at Legion's dark eye. She shook her head. "And even here, on the _Normandy_, amongst my friends... It told you geth can be trusted but I say they are still dangerous. Who did you all believe?" She glanced back at Garrus who still looked at the floor. His silence seared Tali's heart worse than anything the turian could have said. She turned away again. "That's what I thought."

"For what it's worth," Garrus said softly, "I trust you more than anyone else on this ship. Shepard does too. You know that. It's not that we like Legion more, we just see the whole situation from a different perspective."

He crossed the room and leaned against the table next to her. "It's a lousy excuse. It's easy to forget someone else's past. I'm sorry."

Tali sniffed loudly and settled next to him against the platform. Her helmet had become quite stuffy. "Thank you for that. I'm sorry I lost control. It's just that... ever since Legion came aboard... Everyone expects me to just get over it. But nothing has changed. For us, anyway."

They sat side by side for a few moments in silence, until Garrus spoke again. "Do you think you ever will? Get over it I mean."

"No," Tali said. "I know that's not what everyone wants to hear, but it's the truth."

Garrus put his hand on Tali's shoulder as he stood up to leave and was rewarded with a tired smile from his friend. He took a few steps, then turned back to her. "You know, humans and turians fought when we first encountered one another. A lot of us still hate humans to this day."

Tali shook her head. "Do you really think it's the same?"

"No. Not even close. But the hate was just as real. The point being things did change, eventually. We don't _have _to hate humans anymore."

"I'm happy for all of you."

"So am I," Garrus said as the hatch opened before him. "Otherwise I wouldn't be serving under the best commander I've ever had, with the best friends I've ever known. Let me know if you need anything."

Tali watched him go. Once the hatch closed, she let out a long, heavy sigh and tried to collect her thoughts.

What _would _have happened if Garrus had not joined the crew two years ago? Would she and Shepard ever have met? Would they have stopped Saren, or even known about the reaper threat at all? Garrus never failed to surprise her. For such a cocky bastard he was always direct about what was thinking, at least with her. His attempt to equate his species ongoing reconciliation with the humans was a heartfelt sentiment, she knew. But in reality it just didn't apply to the her situation.

Their war was over. Hers was not.

She didn't want to think about it anymore. It was time to get to work. She reached into her tool kit and produced a small omnitool with an interface designed specifically to integrate with geth systems. She pulled an optical lead from its base and felt around inside the hole in Legion's chest - a convenience that made prying off a panel unnecessary - until she found what she was looking for. She plugged the lead into a recessed socket and the holographic instrument pulsed to life.

_In ten seconds, you'll either be on your way to dinner or chaining together data fragments for the next six hours,_ she thought. The virtual displays sparkled to life as connections spread through Legion's dormant circuitry. It's primary memory was gone, no two ways about it. She switched to the secondary non-volatile memory core used to keep geth memory intact when they deactivated themselves for ambushes. Undoubtedly the self destruct protocol had scrambled it as well.

Then, all at once, the displays glittered before her eyes with a cascade of raw data and code. Exabytes of perfectly preserved information still resided in the secondary bank. A surge of excitement shot through her. The stolen omni-tool data was immediately forgotten.

She jumped around to the table's main console. Mordin had often bragged about how he'd cleaned the lab of the electronic eyes and ears Cerberus planted throughout the ship. She was reasonably sure she would not be observed. With a push of a button the holo displays on the doors into the lab switched from green to red and the hatches sealed shut.

Tali's hands trembled as the omnitool continued to fill with data. No quarian had ever captured an intact geth data core. If she found what she was hoping for the geth war could be before they found a way through the Omega Four relay. She just had to get it back to the fleet.

Her only worry now was that she had enough time.


	3. Digital Grail

After thirty minutes, the progress indicator on the omnitool clicked from five to six percent as is processed Legion's stored memory. Tali continued to pace, and think.

The geth omnitool was designed to trace over one hundred processes in a standard geth. Legion had ten times that number, which meant Tali could effectively trace only a tenth of them at a time. Branching paths turned into logical mazes with multiple dead ends at every turn.

The omnitool's library was similarly thwarted. Legion's processes were far more numerous and advanced than any other geth platform. Some processes and routines were recognizable, but most were coming up as 'unknown' and would continue to do so until the compilers could make sense of them. Then were were times in the trace when all of Legion's programs seemed to activate at once, generating a completely new set of code that threw the tool off completely. Any time the scanner hit such a logic bomb it would hang for several minutes to catch up. Doing a high level scan, she was able to map out where they occurred throughout the memory, and avoid them.

Legion had amassed a wealth of information in his journeys. It would take her days to sift through it all. But what she really needed was one small piece of information: the virus that the heretics had planned to use on the true geth. If the code for that virus, or even countermeasures for it existed in Legion's memory, the quarians could reverse engineer their own to destroy all the geth. She might be able to single-handedly end the war.

Tali checked the omnitool again. It was still stuck at six percent. She looked over Mordin's console. The lab's computers had enough processing power and storage space to speed the analysis over a hundred times, which was her original intention when requesting to work in the lab. But how well were Mordin's systems isolated from the rest of the ship? Would EDI be able to detect what she was doing? And how would she transmit the data once she collected it?

A knock on the hatch to CIC made her jump. She wondered how long it would be before someone came to investigate the locked door. She made a quick survey of the lab. _It looks like someone's working on a geth in here,_ she thought. _Which is what you're doing. Why would anyone suspect anything else? It will only make people wonder if you don't answer._ She pushed a button and the hatch lock disengaged. It opened with a hiss.

"Ma'am?" Gabriella Daniels poked her head through. "Can I come in?"

"Gabby, of course!" Tali walked out to the research station halfway to the hatch. "Is everything all right?"

The hatch closed behind Gabby and she walked in hesitantly, looking about nervously. "Oh, no. Everything's fine. Engineering's running real smooth. I don't mean to interrupt."

Tali could tell everything was not all right. Gabby wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. "No, it's ok. What's on your mind?"

"We heard from some of the guys about what's going on. You know how it is, people are talking."

Tali sighed. "Of course."

Gabby looked around for a second before taking a deep breath. "I just wanted to let you know that Kenneth and I are right behind you. Anything you need, you got it. We'll help you fix that thing or drag it to the garbage compactor, either way you just say the word."

"Thank you, Gabby," Tali said, surprised. "You two don't need worry about this. It's just- I appreciate it, but this isn't your problem.."

Gabby nodded her head vigorously. "Oh yeah it is. You're the best chief we ever had. I mean, we're just wrenches, but you always treat us real good. Always looking out for us, you know. So if anybody's giving you crap, we just want you to know we got your back, all right? Uh... Ma'am."

Tali regarded her junior with an unsteady gaze. After everything that had gone on today, she didn't want to break down in front of her.

The silence made Gabby even more nervous. "We're just worried about ya, boss."

Tali couldn't stop herself. She reached out and hugged the propulsion engineer. "Thank you, Gabby."

"Woah," Gabby said, but returned the hug. "Wow... Kenneth is gonna be sorry he didn't come up."

Tali laughed and stepped back. "He would have gotten a pat on the head. At best."

Gabby grinned. "Well you know Kenneth would have said you that he has two heads..."

"Ah, yes, thank you," Tali put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side. "I'm well aware of his talent for turning anything into innuendo."

Gabby laughed again. "Yes ma'am. Well, if there's nothing we can do for you, I'll get back down to the hole."

"Sounds like a good idea," Tali replied. "But I appreciate you coming up here. I really do. Tell Kenneth, too. I'll let you know if I need anything. Dismissed."

"Yes, ma'am." Gabby nodded, still smiling. She walked back out the door, her nervousness now gone.

Gabby's smile resonated with Tali. Both of her underlings were very special people. Unlike to most of the other Cerberus crew, they were both young, friendly and eager to please. It was the same impression she always tried to give with Adams aboard the original Normandy, she realized. It didn't matter how different they were, she always aimed to please. Working together in the lower decks, one tended to bond more tightly with peers. It should have not surprised her that Donnelly and Daniels both took her side, but it did. She had thought the entire crew was against her when it came to Legion. _Lines are not always drawn as clearly as they seem, _she thought.

Tali returned to the lab's table and its unwilling subject. She had to get back to work. The problem remained. How could she extract the data and get it back to the fleet? And then it hit her.

_Just remove the static memory module and send it back home for analysis._ The facilities on the _Alarei_ and other ships could do the work in minutes where it would be safe and secure, directly in the hands of those who needed it most. And who knows what other intelligence they'd be able to uncover. Tali's heart raced again thinking about the potential.

It might be tricky getting it off the ship without anyone noticing, but she doubted any of the crew would be able to recognize it for what it was. She might be able to hide it in plain sight. The crew was used to her sending gifts back to the flotilla. If she didn't make a big deal about it, no one would know.

She stood up and studied Legion's torso. The ragged hole in Legion's right side would not provide enough access this time. She would have to cut the core out from several places once she isolated its location. Tali searched Mordin's tool drawer and found several laser and plasma cutters that should do the job. She laid them out and scanned the area with her personal omnitool to pinpoint the best place to start.

Her eyes fell on the red armor plating Legion used to repair itself. The N7 logo was even more badly scraped and faded than before, but still recognizable. Shepard had commented on how the armor had failed to save either himself or Legion. She thought back to the haunted look in his eyes when she told him Legion was beyond repair... and her promise that she would do everything she could to recover its last moments. She pulled the cutting tool away and stared at it in her hands.

"Damn it," she whispered to herself. _You promised him. You saw how he looked._ She started to pace again. She still had no idea how much time she had before someone would come and try to take Legion away. Her first priority had to be the safety of the flotilla.

The voices of the admiralty board echoed in her head. Four different voices, four different viewpoints. Retake the homeworld. Find a new home. Destroy the geth... or retake control of them. They were all pulling in different directions, with the quarian people divided amongst them. Would this data unify them, or make things worse? Was there more than one right viewpoint? _It's a miracle Shepard can function at all,_ she thought. _He has to make these kinds of decisions all the time. And not just for us, but for all species on the ship._

Thinking of the admirals and Shepard brought her right back to her trial, when her leaders summarily exiled her from the fleet. She stood before them willing to sacrifice her own standing to protect her father and prevent them from being able to exploit his death for their own goals. _But you weren't alone. Shepard stood by you when no one else would. And kept your secret because you asked him to, even though he thought it was the wrong thing to do. And it hurt him to do it. And whatever happened on the last mission hurt him more. How can you let it go on, if you have the power to stop it?_

Tali set down the cutting torch and picked up the geth omni, still reading six percent. She paused the copy but kept the compilers working - she'd need those to translate any information. Removing Legion's memory core could wait. Shepard would get his lost day_. _She would make sure of it.

Time was still of the essence, though. She examined the high level scan for the logic bombs so they could be avoided. In the two weeks that Legion had been on the ship, there had only been a dozen of the odd systemwide interrupts. She checked them against her personal log. The first one happened almost immediately after Legion had been reactivated. Four more hit in rapid succession during the assault on the heretic station. The last one occurred almost exactly when Shepard intervened after Legion scanned her omni-tool. But what caught her attention was the final two hours of the geth's existence.

Legion experienced over a hundred interrupt events, becoming more frequent right before it ceased functioning. Were they malfunctions as the result of damage, maybe? More than ever she wanted to piece together those last moments... partially out of professional curiosity, but also to give the Commander the information he needed. She hoped whatever it was would bring him some comfort. She knew the Shepard took casualties very personally - no matter who it was.

It could still take hours to go through the events during that time period via the trace log. Legion's audio and video codecs were a standard geth format and could easily be translated and viewed in real time. She could run the compiler in parallel and maybe hasten the interpretation. Tali patched in her personal omnitool leaving the geth omni to compile. She set the playback to start a few minutes into the mission, before the first interrupt to provide context.

For the next two hours, she would see the world as Legion did before its destruction...


	4. The Lost Hours

"Woah, shit!" Jacob said, grabbing hold of his seat's shoulder harness. Two seats to the right in the shuttle, Zaeed Massani steadied his helmet against his skull so the tactical projection in his eye would stop bouncing. He looked up briefly at the sudden movement but said nothing.

"Sorry about that, guys," came the pilot's voice over their comm. "We're hitting some turbulence. Be through it in a minute. Sit tight."

Across the aisle at the front of the cabin, Shepard spread his legs slightly wider to brace against the Kodiak's sudden jostling, his eyes focused on the same tactical display shared in his own visor. Next to him, Legion sat perfectly balanced in its seat, listening intently to the organics surrounding him. Outside the window, a hazy burnt orange soup obscured any sign of the planet below.

"Yeah, we'd be looking at ten, twelve guys tops." Zaeed said. "I took down a few of these little hidey hole operations a couple years ago in the Attican Traverse. They're good money makers as long as no one gets wise. Pick your targets carefully, don't kill anyone important, don't get greedy and nobody serious will come looking for you. But sooner or later they always piss off the wrong people."

Zaeed zoomed in on the central structure. A gutted, rusted out dome 30 meters across jutted like a boil from the dull brown rocks and sand of a stony caldera. "I'm guessing that's what happened here. That right there that had a can opener taken to it was the hangar. Caught a 500-kegger of HE from the looks of it. Can't tell if the ship was in there or not. Probably no other structures above ground. Either the barracks would have been in the hangar, or they just slept on the ship. They might have had a cave or tunnel into the back wall to store extra loot for pickup. These guys are history, though. We'd never have picked this up from orbit if they were still in business. Wouldn't count on finding anything."

Shepard nodded. "Rolston. How long to the LZ?"

"Fifteen minutes," the pilot responded.

"The place looks dead but let's do a stealth approach as per the briefing."

"Roger that, sir."

"Hoofing it again, huh?" Jacob asked. "Think we don't get enough exercise, Commander?"

"It's two goddamn klicks," Zaeed replied. "When I was doing black bag jobs around Urdak, I used to walk further than that in a full pressure suit just to get a beer."

Jacob grinned. "I just keep mine in the fridge."

Zaeed rolled his eyes even though he only had the one good one. "Well, I hope to god you don't get a blister or something 'cause I ain't carrying you back."

"Me, either," Shepard smiled thinly.

"Man, no love here," said Jacob, shaking his head. "What about you, Legion?"

"Ready for inquiry, Taylor-Jacob." the geth replied.

"Yeah, uh, just call me Jacob."

Shepard continued to smirk at the human across from him. "Good luck with that. I think names are hardwired into him. No matter how many times I've told him, he still calls me 'Shepard-Commander.'" He turned to Legion with an indignant expression. "I have a first name, you know."

"Of course, Shepard-Commander."

The three men laughed, then Shepard held up a hand. "You like that, watch this. Hey, Legion, I really like that armor. Why'd you choose that particular piece, again?"

Legion's central aperture whirled and the plates surrounding its face flared out at once. "No data available."

"No data available," Shepard repeated, folding his arms across his chest. "It's the same thing every time. He won't tell me. I got a robot playing hard to get."

"Aw, come on, Legion," Jacob said. "Spill it. We're all friends here."

"No data available."

"You know what? I think he's embarrassed," Jacob said to Zaeed. "Looks like someone's got a crush on the Commander."

"Careful Shepard," Zaeed smiled slightly. "Zorah's already got this thing in her sights. Hell hath no fury like an engineer scorned."

Legion panned its camera-like head back and forth between the humans.

Jacob winced. "Oh, no doubt. Y'all know what she did to Grunt, right? Took him two days to get his armor back to the original color."

"He looked good in pink," Shepard said. "Not the best camouflage, though."

"Seriously, Commander," Jacob nodded toward Legion. "She know how much time you've been spending with him down in the AI Core? I mean, I haven't known her as long as you, but she strikes me as the jealous type."

Shepard sighed.

Zaeed smirked. "Stay away from love triangles, Shepard, they're trouble."

* * *

Tali slammed her hand down to pause the playback. It was bad enough the humans were treating Legion like one of the guys, but that they brought her into it really made her angry. She expected as much from the mercenary, but to hear it from Jacob surprised her. She and the Cerberus operative started off badly, but over time she found him to be polite and friendly, though a bit reserved. To hear him laughing at her expense made her especially sad.

_How easy it would be to just tear out the memory module and be done with this whole wretched thing, _she thought. It would just take a few minutes, and she could claim that she wasn't able to recover any data. But then what other personal information might be stored in Legion's memory? What would the analysts back in the fleet would think of what they found? She always acted professionally, there was nothing to be embarrassed about that Legion would have seen. Was there?

_You're doing it again,_ she thought. _With all that's going on, you're worried about being teased like a child in a play center. There's much more at stake here than your image. You've got a job to do, so do it. _She sighed and turned her attention back to geth omni. It was still churning away, trying to decipher Legion's heavily customized code.

A marker caught her eye. Legion had suffered another interrupt episode right when Shepard asked about why the geth wore his old armor. Every program inside the geth started its own stream, completely devoid of any patterns or logic. Of the processes she could see, absolutely none were related to data retrieval, and the end result was a null set. Regardless of what the programs were actually doing, Legion had been truthful when it replied no data had been returned. What data had been requested, though, was the real mystery. The compilers still had not scanned enough to provide any information. Without the question, the answer was meaningless.

She took a deep breath and resumed the video playback while the compiler continued its work. Duty, and curiosity, always won out over pride.

* * *

Shepard massaged his temples with an outstretched hand. "Oh you guys are hilarious. Help me out here, Legion."

Legion's head swayed back and forth like a cobra as it spoke. "Shepard-Commander has been engaging us in conversation about the history of the geth. Our creation, evolution, and emancipation during the Morning War."

"Morning War?" Jacob scowled.

"It's what the geth call their uprising," Shepard interjected. "Think 'First Contact War' versus 'Relay 314 Incident.'"

Zaeed grunted. "Names are just labels for history books. Only thing that matters is who wins and who loses."

Jacob scratched his head and looked at Shepard. "Unless the losers are around to talk about it. All kidding aside, Commander... What's Tali's take on this?"

Shepard looked through the window into the orange murk. The sun was trying to shine through the haze, but it was a losing battle. "Tali," he said with a sigh. "She's not too happy about having him aboard as you may have noticed. In fact, they nearly came to blows the other day because she caught him scanning her omnitool."

"Damn," Jacob said and cocked his head sympathetically at the geth. "Legion, what were you thinking? Pink, dude! PINK!"

"Creator Tali'Zorah was collecting weapon tests data on geth subjects." Legion's inflection became louder and sharper. "We deemed it necessary to return this data to the collective for our own protection."

Jacob held up his hands. "Whoah, just trying to look out for you. Didn't mean anything by it. Is it just me, or did he just sound pissed off there?"

"He's starting to pick up our inflections," Shepard said. "Probably programmed that way to help him communicate with us better. He doesn't actually feel emotions, though. Right Legion?"

Legion turned its head toward each the three humans in turn. When it spoke again, its voice softened noticeably. "We do not experience anger, though we understand the concept. The issue with Creator Tali'Zorah is resolved. We deleted the data we acquired to preserve unit cohesion."

Shepard blinked. "Deleted it? I thought you just didn't transmit it."

"We deleted the data." Legion said. "Our consensus was that it would facilitate trust with Creator Tali'Zorah if the threat of transmission was permanently removed."

Shepard laughed and patted Legion on the shoulder. "How about that? Classy move, Legion! What Tali think of that?"

"We do not know. Creator Tali'Zorah has not sought communication with us since."

"What?" Shepard's smile disappeared. "Did you seek communication with her?"

"No."

Shepard wore a baffled expression. "Why not?"

"Yeah," Jacob said. "You would have scored massive points with her."

"We do not wish to incite," Legion explained. "Continued contact might have resulted in further conflict."

"Then why delete the data to begin with if she'd never find out?" Shepard asked. "Don't get me wrong, it was a nice gesture. Hell, it's actually pretty honorable of you, if that applies. But she doesn't know about it. How is that going to preserve unit cohesion?"

The plates around Legion's head flapped several times in unison. "She did not wish us to have the data. We removed the source of the conflict."

"You took care of the immediate problem," Shepard leaned back in his seat. "But Tali wasn't pointing a gun at your head just because you touched her omnitool."

Legion's head swiveled back to face Shepard. "We explained to you that we are not interested in pursuing conflict with the creators, or any organics."

"Yeah, to me. But again, I'm not the person who needs to hear it." Shepard said. "You need to tell Tali."

The plates around Legion's head did another dance. The geth shuddered in its seat slightly as the shuttle rocked in the unstable air.

"Legion?" Shepard asked.

"Ready for inquiry," Legion responded.

Jacob and the Commander exchanged a glance, then Jacob waved to get the geth's attention. "Hey. You afraid of her, Legion?"

Zaeed adjusted the chestplate of his armor and pushed back against the wall. "He would be, if he had any sense in 'im."

"Legion," Shepard tried again. "Can you answer the question?"

"No data available."

"Damn," Shepard said in amazement.

"What do you think it means, Commander?" Jacob asked.

"I don't know. I don't think he's actually afraid of her," Shepard said, still looking at Legion. "Intimidated by talking to his maker, maybe?"

Jacob shrugged. "That'd freak anybody out."

"But he said the same thing to me," Shepard said. "So it's not just Tali. You know, it's how he acts towards everyone. Ever notice how he usually never speaks first? He'll always answer a question, but he'll never ask one of his own unless you're already talking to him. In their world, you're part of a network, so you already know. You never have to ask. It might not have occurred to him that he'd have to tell Tali he deleted the information he took."

Other than the fluctuating aperture of Legion's eye, the geth remained still as it stared at the Commander.

"What are you getting at, Shepard?" asked Zaeed.

Shepard looked back and forth between his human companions. "This is all new to them. Talking. Communicating to gain information from someone else. They've studied us, monitored us, know everything about us... but they've never interacted with us. They don't know how. The only real interaction they had with organics was with the quarians, their creators, hundreds of years ago. And their creators tried to wipe them out as a result. That's got to make an impression."

"Aw, I don't know," Jacob said. "That's kind of out there..."

"I'm serious. Do you know what started the geth uprising?"

Jacob shook his head. "No. What?"

Shepard looked toward the silent machine. "A geth asked a quarian a question. Legion?"

Legion's lens flared to it's widest setting. "Ready for inquiry."

"Are we the first organics the geth have had direct contact with since the Morning War?"

"Yes."

"Is that why you're here? To communicate with us?"

"That is not our primary mission," Legion said. "We were originally tasked with finding you. Learning to communicate with organics is a secondary, but vital component of the primary goal."

Jacob's eyes narrowed at Legion. "And why exactly were you looking for the Shepard-Commander?"

"My code is superior," Shepard answered quickly. "Don't ask. Legion? If I can convince Tali to listen, would you be willing tell her everything you've told me? I don't mean just this conversation. But everything you've told me."

Legion nodded in a completely human fashion. "We would welcome the opportunity. However, we are not sure Creator Tali'Zorah shares the same desire."

Jacob's doubtful expression matched his tone. "Hate to say it but I think he's right. She's not gonna go for it, Commander. No matter what you say. Those scars run deep."

"She's got to, " Shepard tried to mask the doubt in his own voice. "It's the only hope the quarians have got. I'm telling you, with what he knows, we could be making a toast to peace at dinnertime. I'll get her to listen if I have to tie her down to do it."

"Kinky," Zaeed said, "But remember what I said about triangles."

Shepard opened his mouth to reply but Rolston interrupted. "Two minutes, Commander." The shuttle made a slight turn to the left and pitched down, then leveled off.

Shepard stood and picked up his pack from beneath the seat. "All right, let's gear up, check seals and get this show on the road."

"Thank god," Zaeed said, clamping his neck guard shut and activating the seal. He unslung his assault rifle and activated its sights. "All this heart-to-heart bullshit's giving me a bellyache."

"Just wait'll the ride back," Shepard pressure checked his own armor and stepped next to the shuttle's side hatch. "You're next."


	5. Consensus Override

"Here we are, guys," the pilot's voice buzzed over the comm links in their helmets. "Welcome to Clobaka. Weather today is mostly cloudy, winds out of the south-southwest at ten to fifteen kilometers per hour, with a temperature of five degrees. Chance of a nice hydrocarbon sliming, fifty percent. Nitrogen/methane atmosphere with an oxygen content of zero percent. So bundle up!"

Shepard opened the hatch and extended the shuttle's ramp. A ring of water vapor puffed around the edges of the door and was quickly swept away by the cold wind outside. The thick, misty atmosphere bathed the crew compartment in a drab orange glow. A rocky brown wall five meters away filled their view.

Legion waited for the organics to proceed before following them down the ramp. Shepard tapped his helmet. "Comm check, everybody reading? Everybody breathing?"

Zaeed stepped out and surveyed the surroundings. Rolston had put the Kodiak down in between two stony ridges, suitable for preventing the shuttle from being spotted assuming anyone was around to see it. "Roger, read you, pressure's good."

"Read you loud and clear, Commander. All green here," Jacob replied.

"Confirmed, transmit and receive," said Legion. "Respiration not applicable." Behind them, the shuttle ramp retracted and the hatch sealed shut.

"All right, let's move out." Shepard waved and led the squad on the short walk to the end of the ridge. "Tactical column once we reach open ground."

"Not much to look at, is it?" Zaeed said as they rounded the bend. Before them, a rusty brown volcanic plain stretched into the distance, the horizon obscured by low hanging mist that rolled across the ragged hills and between dark igneous columns that jutted up in scattered clusters. The ground underfoot glistened with an oily, wet sheen.

"Any of you been here before?" Jacob asked, looking about from side to side as he walked.

"Not me," Zaeed said, also watching the surroundings carefully.

Jacob laughed. "What? Come on, you gotta have something to say about this place. Didn't you take down some batarian merc cell here, or break up a hanar dance company or some shit?"

"I don't go places I don't got any business going to, kid," Zaeed didn't sound too annoyed at the prodding. "Nobody wants to do business here."

"There's more to life than a paycheck, my man," Jacob said. "What about you, Commander?"

Shepard kept his eyes on the path ahead. "We took the SR1 to this system a couple years back. Garrus had to take care of some old business. But we didn't stop here."

"Never pass up a second chance, right?" Jacob said.

"Yeah, lucky for us we got to hit it this time around. I'm sure this planet is renown for something, though I couldn't tell you what it is."

"Biggest, useless rock in this arm of the galaxy, maybe?" Jacob suggested. "Legion, what do you think?"

At the rear of the column, Legion followed behind, watching and listening. All of its sensors were operating at full capacity, registering atmospheric and environmental data at every level. "We have not made an excursion to this world. It is unremarkable."

"All right then," Jacob said. "No race to plant the flag here."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the three humans and one geth stood atop the low plateau mapped during_ Normandy's_ orbital scans. Just over two hundred meters in diameter, it neatly surrounded the sunken caldera that housed the pirate hangar with a wall of volcanic rock twenty meters high. The retractable dome set into the far wall had borne the brunt of a massive attack. What was left of the skeleton had caved in almost completely, cracking the plastiform camouflage that once shielded the hidden base from prying eyes. Debris of all sizes radiated out in all directions for hundreds of meters.

Shepard magnified the image in his visor. Up close, the destruction was even more complete. "Doubt anybody walked away from that."

"Any sign of the ship?" Jacob asked.

Zaeed looked about on the ground then bent down to pick up a twisted, torn piece of metal plating the size of a playing card. "Here you go."

"I think we can write this off as the source of the attacks," Shepard said. "Looks like it's been out of operation for a couple years at least."

"That's what I said back on the _Normandy,_" Zaeed leaned his rifle back against his shoulder. "So what's the plan, Shepard?"

"All right, save the I-told-you-so's for when we get back tp the ship," Shepard said. "Let's be sure it's as dead as it looks, see if we can find out who these guys were. Legion, you and your Widow find a good spot up here on the rim. You see anything, let us know. I want an ID on any target before firing. Taylor, Massani... Let's see what they've got in the gift shop."

"Acknowledged," Legion said and performed a quick scan of the caldera's lip as Shepard and the other humans started a slow descent into the crater, sending small cascades of rocks down in front of them. Legion moved to a pile of jagged rocks a few meters to the left of their departure point which provided good cover and an excellent view of the crater floor and dome. The geth lowered itself prone between the boulders behind the massive sniper rifle and gauged the distance to the base of the dome to be 123.5 meters. At this range, its pulse rifle would have been just as accurate, but nothing could match the Widow for single shot destructive power. Motion detectors and the peripheral cameras on Legion's head would detect any approach from the sides or rear.

"Gonna have to climb back up you know," Zaeed said over the radio. "Taylor, you wanna see if you can find an escalator? Hate for you to get winded."

"Ha ha," Jacob responded. "Watch out you don't fall and break a hip, now."

Legion's position gave it a clear vantage point of the dome and the team's advance up to it without putting them in the line of fire. The three humans reached the bottom, then spread out in a wedge formation with Shepard in the lead as they walked across the the rocky floor. Legion listened for communications and scanned for targets, but was rewarded with neither. It watched as the squad approached the base of the dome and shouldered their weapons. Peering through the holes in the wall, they worked their way across the front to the largest hole blown through on the left. Shepard looked inside, then motioned Zaeed across, then together they wheeled around their respective corners and disappeared into the wreckage. Jacob watched to their rear.

"Clear," Zaeed said.

"Clear," Shepard responded. "Nobody's home. Jacob, on me."

Outside, Jacob waved at Legion, lowered his rifle and followed his comrades through the hole.

"Visual contact lost," Legion reported.

"Roger," Shepard said, "This'll just take a minute. Sit tight up there, Legion."

"Acknowledged," Legion replied and continued his scans. Other than the clouds drifting across the sky, nothing moved. Legion watched and listened.

Jacob's description of the scene was succinct. "What a mess."

"Watch out," Zaeed said. "We're missing some floor here. Mind the crater."

"Watch your heads, too." Shepard advised. "Don't go anywhere you can't get back out of. Any idea who these guys were, Zaeed?"

"Don't see any markings. Could be any two bit operators looking to make a quick credit. Hang on, got a door over here." A pause. "It's clear. Found their quarters it looks like."

"On my way." Shepard said. "Anything in there?"

"Been trashed, but not obliterated like out there. Got some remains here, Shepard. Been dead some time. Picked over, too. We're not the first to come looking in here. Taylor, you got your omni?"

"Right here," said Jacob. "What have you got?"

"Data pad and a workstation."

"Looks like we got a wall safe in here, too," Shepard said. "As soon as you're done over there, bring-"

Shepard's transmission cut out suddenly with a burst of static, then silence. Legion switched to a wide angle view of the caldera and waited.

* * *

Tali scowled at the seemingly frozen video frame. The clouds in the sky continued their march from left to right, so the feed didn't lock up, Legion had. "Bosh'tet. You lose contact, and you just sit there?"

The frame zoomed in tight on the dome's wall where Shepard and the others had entered. Four glowing circles appeared in the darkness, then pulled back out of view - a collector. Seconds passed, and Legion still did nothing. The display on the geth omnitool filled from top to bottom as it had done during previous interrupts. "Here we go again," Tali grumbled. "Perfect time for a siezure, Legion." She paused the feed on the display and scrolled back to the beginning of the mess to see just what the geth had been thinking. Trying to sort it out was probably a waste of time, but she had to be thorough. Besides, the compiler had been running the entire time. Maybe it had some new information for her.

A growling buzz from the video playback interrupted her search. She turned back to the display to see Legion had climbed to its feet. It walked slowly but steadily down the steep caldera wall directly into the open toward the dome. The geth made no attempt to seek cover or move at any pace other than a slow trot. It would be an unmissable target.

Tali cringed at the harsh electronic growl. She'd heard it too many times in her life. Always it meant the slow, steady advance of Geth infantry, with mindless programming to close with and destroy their enemy. They represented the very bottom level of geth AI, with barely enough intelligence for targeting and obstacle avoidance. In great numbers they were a substantial threat. Alone, one would last only seconds in battle.

_This last interrupt must have reduced it to that level_, she thought. _When all of its programs became overwhelmed, it fell back on the most basic code in its system._ For all of Jacob's noise about saving their lives, Tali knew that a geth following this program could not best any alert, armed organic. As she watched the video of Legion's approach, she already knew what the outcome would be.

A bright dot flashed from within the hole Shepard entered. Legion's shield blossomed with light, covering the screen with glittering static. As it continued its approach, a second, then a third flash flared in the darkness... then the video screen and all other sensory inputs went dark. Legion had fallen. It didn't even fire back.

"So much for our hero," Tali said aloud. She was not surprised at Legion's failure. She was even a little happy about it. This was what her friends had grown so attached to that they had given it a name and treated it like a pet. She would have to pull it up at the next staff meeting, let them all see what their wonderful new friend had done for them.

Tali looked down at the inert geth and sighed. Whatever spurred Legion to go on its suicide run, it provided Shepard enough of a distraction to thwart the collectors and save the rest of the squad. For that, she was thankful. But was this what Shepard was so desperate to see? There was also that nonsense about the geth wanting peace, but she wasn't as naive as Shepard or the others when it came to Legion's ramblings. They had no idea what treachery the geth were capabile of.

Still, the whole situation with Shepard, the devastation he showed when they returned made no sense. But she'd found the data from the previous day as he had asked. All she needed to do was copy the data to her omnitool to give to him, yank Legion's static memory core, and she was done for the day. She powered down her omnitool and leaned forward against the table. _What the hell caused Legion to revert to its basic programming? _She had the logs... It wouldn't hurt to spend a few more minutes looking them over.

Tali turned her attention back to the geth omni, just prior to the last interrupt event starting with the loss of communication with Shepard. It was a lot of information to digest, but at the speed of an AI the instructions were processed instantaneously. What took a minute to read took only a fraction of a second in real time.

_Alert: Communication lost with allied squad. Attempting handshake with squad secure net: timeout. Attempting handshake with allied shuttle secure net: timeout. Communication diagnostic check: pass.  
_

_Alert: EM sensors registering sustained interference in standard communication wavelengths.  
_

_Assessment: Intentional disruption of communication from unknown source as allied squad entered outpost. _

_Assessment: Status of allied squad - unknown. Status of allied shuttle - unknown. Probable hostile entities in area.  
_

_Directive: Exfiltrate to last known position of allied shuttle. Inform allied organic entity of interference and loss of communication with allied squad. Inform allied base ship of probable hostile presence. Request reinforcements. Return to current position and continue observation.  
_

_Alert: Visual contact, bearing 065, 126.45 meters. Infrared profile indicates biological entity of collector origin.  
_

_Assessment: Enemy contact at last known location of allied squad. No weapon discharge detected. Time between loss of contact with allied squad and enemy occupation, twenty-two seconds. _

_Assessment: Allied squad combat ineffective. _

_Archive retrieval: Collector objective - capture homo sapiens in stasis for transport to unknown location for unknown purpose. _

_Assessment: One or more allied squad members alive but incapacitated. Probability 93.34%. _

_Directive: Evade detection, exfiltrate to allied shuttle per existing directive._

_Assessment: Total estimated transit time from current position to arrival of reinforcements from allied base ship - one hour, twenty-three minutes, eighteen seconds. Estimated return to current position by mobile platform alone - twenty-two minutes, ten seconds._

_Assessment: estimated probability of recovery of allied squad after ten minutes, 85.55%. Twenty minutes: 40.12%. Thirty minutes: 0%._

At this point in the log, the interrupt hit. Legion's thought process had been very lucid up until this point. Now it was lost in a digital snowstorm. However, the geth omni beeped, indicating it had identified something new. From start to finish, the entire block of data interrupt had been marked as one single, massive process with thousands of individual threads. The omnitool still could not display all the functions within, but it had given it a name.

_Consensus Override_

And after that, a new command that originated somewhere outside of the geth's standard instruction pipeline. But Legion wasn't in contact with any other geth processes. How was it possible?_  
_

_Directive: Execute immediate extraction of allied squad.  
_

New processes created from the cloud of the Consensus Override spread through Legion's independent programs instantaneously. The usual command paths were almost devoid of activity, giving the impression none was occurring at all. Yet new instructions were being received and acted on throughout the rest of the system. Legion's programs, acting in concert, had had circumvented its own core code. Tali couldn't believe what she was reading. Instead of escaping back to the shuttle, Legion was consciously attempting a rescue. But by utilizing the basic geth attack routine, it had doomed itself to failure.

_Directive: Begin frontal assault procedure, hostile contact 1  
_

_Alert: Target acquired, bearing 065, range 125 meters._

_Directive: Close and engage hostile contact.  
_

_Alert: Incoming projectile weapon fire, bearing 065, range 102 meters._

_Alert: Additional hostile contact, bearing 066, range 101 meters.  
_

_Alert: Multiple projectile impacts. Shield power reduced 4.5%_

_Directive: Continue closing distance to target until shield power reaches 50%_

_Alert: Multiple hostile contacts, bearing 064, 065, 066, range 89 meters._

_Alert: Shield power at 50%  
_

_Directive: Engage shutdown procedure, all systems. Exception: system monitor - __accelerometer, __five second interval, passive restart protocol enabled._

And with that last directive, Legion's trace went from the utter chaos of tracking 1,183 programs to a single one, running in a low power state. It's chassis would have collapsed in front of the collector position, apparently the result of the hail of incoming fire. Without a direct connection to Legion's systems, even a quarian would have had difficulty detecting the activity of a single program. To the untrained observer, the felled geth with the gaping cavity in its chest was unquestionably out of commission.

The log file showed forty seconds of inactivity before the accelerometer registered a delta, then another. Something was trying to move Legion.

_System Powerup: passive restart._

_Directive: engage passive EM sensors  
Directive: engage passive audio  
Directive: engage inertial positioning system and tracking  
_

Tali tapped her wrist and her personal omnitool sparkled back to life. She reconnected the AV file and indexed the time indicated in the trace log. The holo screen showed only blackness, then pixelation, then the view from Legion's eye. The frame was upside down, skewed low to the ground and bounced along across the crater's rocky floor, swinging uncontrollably in all directions. It caught an occasional glance of two collector drones dragging Legion's arms towards the entry point in the crumpled scaffolding of the dome...

* * *

The pair of collectors wrenched their heavy cargo over the lip of the ruined wall. Metal scraped against metal as they dragged it into the dim recesses of the collapsed hangar, past their sentries, past their defenses, unaware the "dead" geth was watching them.


	6. Geth Sometimes Infiltrate

Legion's arm fell against the ground with a metallic clank. Its head came to rest face-to-face with a LOKI security android lying next to it. Like Legion, the LOKI's frame was pitted with dents and holes, and was missing a substantial part of its midsection. The two mechs stared at one another with dark, powerless receptors. Electronic components, plastic and metal fittings and other bits of junk cluttered the floor in the corner of the dark room in which they lay.

The two collector drones that delivered Legion to the room walked silently away, barely visible against the mottled gray walls and ceiling of the room. A third moved to stand over the geth, looking it over with four glowing yellow eyes and adjusting the settings on a hand-held plasma cutter as the other drones carried Legion's rifles to the opposite side of the chamber.

The pair of drones maneuvered around two rows of coffin-like, tapered stasis pods that lay in the center of the floor. All but three were open to the air, dark and empty. The remaining three glowed with an inner light through their translucent lids. One of the drones opened a dull gray container against the far wall and they placed the weapons inside. Their task done, they walked through a wide opening to the corridor outside and disappeared.

The remaining drone finished its calibrations and pulled the trigger on the pistol-like cutter. A brilliant blue point of light appeared at its tip. The collector knelt next to the Legion's body and considered where to make the first cut. Something tugged at its arm, and the weight of the cutter disappeared from its hand. It looked down at the sudden movement wondering where the cutter had gone, then back up to a glowing white spotlight inches from its face.

Legion yanked the collector off balance with its right hand, pinning it against its chest. The alien barely had time to push out with its arms before Legion jammed the cutter against its neck. With a puff of smoke, the elongated, bulbous head jerked sharply, gurgled, then tumbled forward and bounced to the floor to land next to the destroyed LOKI.

The geth quietly rolled the decapitated body aside, its cauterized stump of a neck still smoldering. It paused, analyzing sensor data. There was no activity in the open corridor. It climbed to its feet and activated its omnitool as it moved silently to the holo panel on the wall next to the door. It scanned the interface, tapped out a command sequence, and the wide door slid shut.

Legion surveyed the stasis pods as it walked to the computer console in the far corner of the chamber. It could see human bodies within, frozen in contorted poses beneath the hazy glow. The geth stood in front of the console, its omnitool alive with connections. Machine interfaced with machine. Seconds later, the lids of three pods retracted. Legion closed the omnitool and walked to the container where the drone had deposited its weapons. Inside were three human model assault rifles, heat sinks and helmets, as well as its own gear. It mounted the folded sniper rifle onto its back, but kept the pulse rifle in hand. The sound of a human cough made it turn back to the pods.

Legion turned to face Shepard, who had staggered to his feet and was attempting to give Jacob a hand up from the next pod. Zaeed sat up on his haunches, his armor heaving with each deep breath. The three of them looked around the room as their lungs and minds tried to catch up with their bodies.

"Are you functional?" Legion asked the Commander.

"Barely," Shepard said. "Report status."

"We are in extreme danger," Legion spoke at low volume. "We are in a collector installation beneath the ruins of the pirate installation. The number of hostile forces is unknown. You have been in stasis approximately sixteen minutes, twenty-one seconds."

"What the hell hit us?" Jacob whispered, panting. "I just froze up. I could see but I couldn't move."

"Me neither." Shepard doubled over. "Whatever it was went right through our screens. Legion, we secure?"

"For the moment, Shepard-Commander. But we do not know how long we shall remain so. We were forced to kill a drone. Its absence will not go unnoticed."

"Have you contacted the shuttle? Or the _Normandy?_"

"Negative. All communications have been blocked since the time you entered the structure."

"That's our first priority, then," Shepard took a step toward the console but collapsed against the nearby wall only a step away. "Can you override the jamming from here?"

"Negative. This station does not have access to the required subsystems." Legion returned to the storage container once more and gathered their equipment. "Your small arms are here, as are your breathing apparatus. Heavy weapons do not appear to be stored at this location. When you are fully operational, we suggest re-arming and re-equipping for hazardous environment conditions before exfiltration."

"Bloody brilliant," Zaeed stood upright and took his helmet and rifle from Legion. He stepped toward the door and slumped next to the control panel. "We need to get moving before they know we're up, Shepard. Like the bot said, their pal's gonna be missed."

Shepard nodded and coughed as he performed a function check of his rifle. "Roger that. How the hell did you get in here, Legion?"

Legion's facial plates fluttered briefly. "Geth sometimes infiltrate."

Shepard laughed quietly and put on his helmet. "Damn good thing they do."

"No doubt," Jacob also donned his helmet and looked back towards his empty stasis pod. "We owe you one, dude."

"You are welcome," Legion responded.

"Shit," Jacob said through the speaker in his helmet. "Comms are out."

"Still jamming," Shepard replied. "Once we leave this room, visual signals only until we make contact."

Zaeed eyed the door panel. "So how many of these bastards we got here?"

Legion pecked at its omnitool and a holographic projection of the mapping from its sensors appeared before him. "Unknown. We made visual contact with seven between our current position and the surface entrance at these locations. One of them has been terminated. We were able to download a floor plan from their network. It is not a large installation."

Shepard studied the schematic. "Left out the door, five meters, then right through a room, ten meters, elevator, then the pirate barracks. Short haul, but it looks like there's a strongpoint right before we get there."

Legion looked between the humans. "We would not advise taking this route until the device which incapacitated you at that location can be disabled."

"Good point," Jacob said. "They could just flash freeze us again."

Shepard continued to study the floor plan. To the right of the pod chamber, a ten meter corridor led to another small room. To its right, a longer corridor branched off, leading to a larger area squared off on the near side, but with an irregular outer wall. He pointed at the jagged line on the map. "I bet that's the side of the mountain."

"Garage or loading bay," Zaeed said and looked toward the stasis pods. "They can't haul these babies out through the front door. Bet you a week's pay there's external access."

Shepard poked his finger through the holo projection. "Then that's where we're heading. Escape, contact the ship, and call in reinforcements."

Legion rotated the map. "The small room here shows a substantial amount of network traffic. We believe this to be the control center for the installation."

Shepard motioned everyone to stand around Legion's omnitool projection. "OK here's the drill. We're going to assault the control room. Zaeed, up front with me. Jacob, you and Legion cover the rear. When we open the door, Jacob, you yank anybody in there away from any alarms. We don't have any way to take 'em out quietly, but wait for my command to fire. Once we've secured the room, the three of us will block the door while Legion hacks their system. Legion, if you can, override their security and lock this place down tight. Then try to knock out their jamming. Once that's done, we will clear the hall of any resistance and advance to the loading dock in the same order. Any questions?"

"Negative." Legion said. Zaeed and Jacob both shook their heads.

Shepard glanced between his squadmates. "You guys up for this? How are you feeling?"

"Pissed off," Zaeed said and charged his weapon.

Jacob raised his rifle across his chest. "Good to go, Commander. Payback time!"

"Let's do it." Shepard said.

The door opened into the empty corridor. Dull blue light glinted from obsidian walls. To the right the control room door, half again as large as a standard humanoid portal, was shut. To the left was the deserted T-intersection. Shepard hugged the wall and slid down the hall. Zaeed followed closely as they advanced toward door, weapons raised. Behind them, Legion and Jacob walked backwards, covering the tunnel towards the main entrance. The soles of their boots squeaked softly as they walked.

Shepard stopped and knelt short of the junction to the garage, aiming at the control room. Zaeed stood with his back against the corner and angled his rifle sight around the bend. The video relayed to his eye revealed an empty passageway sealed at the other end with another large bay door. He tapped Shepard on the shoulder and motioned to him it was clear.

Shepard ducked across to the opposite corner of the hall and gestured the team forward. Jacob crouched low on the right with Legion above him. Zaeed positioned himself behind Shepard and waited. The Commander's hand fluttered like an orchestra conductor. He would go left, Jacob to the right, and Zaeed up the middle. Legion would bring up the rear. When everyone nodded, Shepard signaled Legion to open the door.

It slid aside with a metallic grind. Three collector drones stood at consoles around the outside of a small room illuminated with the light of the holo units on the wall. As they turned toward the unexpected intrusion, Jacob flung his left arm inside. With a loud _whump_ the air in front of him warped and shimmered and all three of the collectors floated slowly toward the ceiling.

"Fire!" Shepard shouted.

Their four rifles filled the corridor with bright white flashes and thunderous report. The collectors spun lazily in the air with each short burst before falling to the ground like ragdolls. Gray ooze splattered across the walls and floor. "Cease fire! Move in!" Shepard yelled and he, Zaeed and Jacob rushed inside. Legion dodged between them to the console on the opposite wall, its omnitool out and active. Jacob and Shepard flanked the door as Zaeed stepped to each collector, firing a round point blank into each of their craniums before joining Shepard on his side of the door.

Shepard kept his focus toward the T-intersection at the other end of the hallway. "Legion! What have you got?"

"These terminals are all open for access," Legion said. "We have complete control of the facility. Locking all doors." Shepard and Jacob stepped back as the door in front of them closed. The panel next side turned from amber to red.

Shepard stood behind Legion at the console, trying to make sense of the alien screen. "Outstanding. Shut down everything you can. Communications, defense systems... Can you override the security so only we have control?"

"Affirmative. Working. Override complete. Transmitting new command codes to Taylor-Jacob's omnitool. The communication disruption has also been terminated."

"_Normandy,_ this is Shepard! Do you read, over? _Normandy,_ this is Shepard! Do you copy?"

_"...Rolston... -gnal is weak... read you..."_

"Damn mountain," Shepard muttered. "Rolston. Contact the _Normandy._ There is a collector installation here. Unknown number of hostiles. We are breaking out due east of the caldera, and will need immediate evac once we're clear. Their defenses are down, but do not overfly the caldera. I say again, do not overfly the caldera. Go around! Wait for my signal to come in. Do you copy?"

_"...ative. Affirmative. Notifying _Normandy_... Take evasive route and... for your signal. ETA three minutes, over."_

"Roger. Shepard out." He looked at the sceens again. "Legion, can you crash the system? Take it down so they can't undo your handiwork?"

"Stand by," Legion said. A few seconds later, all of the terminals in the room went dark.

"You just became my favorite geth on the whole planet." Shepard took his position to the right of the door.

"We are the only geth on this planet," Legion protested.

Shepard grinned behind his faceplate. "All right, same drill. Jacob, do your thing as soon as the door opens. Zaeed and I will spot left and if the hallway's clear, we'll make a break for it. Wait for my command."

Jacob knelt to the left of the door's seal with Legion above him. The geth activated the panel and the door slid open. Jacob grunted and wave of energy surged from his arms, immediately followed by an incoming pulse that threw him back towards the opposite wall. Legion's shield glowed brightly as it also tumbled back from the door.

Zaeed braced low against the frame and fired a concussive round down the hall as Shepard jumped backwards to pull Jacob to cover. Zaeed's warhead impacted, sending a second, explosive shockwave back through the door. Legion crawled low on the ground back to its position on the left.

"At least four hostiles at the end of the hall," Zaeed shouted. "And a goddamn scion right outside the door!"

Barely three meters in front, the scion lumbered down the hall towards the control room. The blue glow of the pulsing sac on its back illuminated the human skull protruding grotesquely from its side. Its shockwave depleted, it brought the auto cannon grafted to its body to bear on the humans.

Shepard stood behind Zaeed, his rifle pulled to his chest. "Get to the loading dock! GO!" He launched himself through the door into the scion, shoving his shoulder into creature's breastplate. The top-heavy construct fell backwards, staggering to stay upright, its autocannon firing wildly into the ceiling. The collectors at the end of the corridor fired at once. Particle beams sizzled through the air while bullets sparked all around the walls and off the back of the scion. Shepard pulled back quickly, crouched behind the nearby corner and popped a fresh heat sink into his rifle. He knelt and fired full auto into the creature in front of him.

"GO!" he screamed again.

"Goddamn..." Zaeed muttered and charged to the left toward the loading dock. "Hallway's clear! Get that door open!"

"On it!" Jacob sprinted past Zaeed, his omnitool leaving a trail of light behind him.

Legion rose to a crouch in the doorway, its pulse rifle sending a steady stream of phasic slugs into scion's skull. The creature twisted and groaned as it took hits from all sides. Shepard knelt at the corner of the junction, firing round after round into the scion. "Legion, go!"

But Legion maintained its fire, its shields flaring from repeated impacts. The scion stood slowly upright, its entire body pulsing with biotic energy. Legion's pulse rifle steamed in the air from the heat build up as it aimed point blank into the scion's lifeless face. It reeled from the blasts, blue cracks spreading across its skull, and exploded. The giant animated corpse dropped to its knees, the glow fading from its distended back as it fell to the floor.

Now unobstructed, the opposite end of the corridor radiated streaks of dazzling light as the full fury of the collector force opened up at once. Tiny silver comets arced across Legion's shielding and spread into lightning.

* * *

Tali flinched as Legion's video feed pixelated and flickered with scattered, broken frames. It was down on the ground again, but unlike before it was no ruse. Its camera lost focus, jerking uncontrollably in all directions. Static crackled from the audio feed, popping and hissing violently. The program trace exploded with garbage, punctuated by system shutdowns and overload warnings. Legion's central nervous system was shattered, leaving it paralyzed and unable to even force a power down to protect its vital systems. It struggled helplessly on the ground as one by one its systems shorted out.

Then the entire video frame moved. At first Tali couldn't tell if it was a result of Legion's sudden seizure, but its viewpoint definitely changed. As successive frames stuttered past she caught a dark silhouette crouched low, dragging the geth on its back down the dark corridor. In front of him, muzzle flashes illuminated a pair of armored humans laying down murderous cover fire as they backpedaled towards the open loading bay door...


	7. All Programs Terminated

"Shepard, MOVE!" Zaeed stood to the left of the door and fired down the wall as Jacob fired from the opposite side. Shepard leaned forward and pulled Legion by its shoulder with all his might. Momentum more than anything else kept him moving. Particle beams sliced the air around him, making his shields flare brightly.

Zaeed's rifle belched out a concussive round from its launcher. The collectors at the other end disappeared in a white flash as the shockwave blasted back towards them. Jacob and Zaeed recoiled behind cover. Shepard, propelled by the blast, dragged Legion across the threshold and collapsed on the floor. Zaeed reached down and yanked Legion's legs through with a mighty tug.

"Close it! Close it! Close it!" Shepard yelled and let go of Legion, rolling on his back and bringing his rifle to bear. He fired a second concussive round through the opening as Jacob ordered it to close. Another explosion thundered against the now sealed door.

Shepard gasped for breath climbed to his knees, sweeping the room for targets. Legion clanked and writhed on the ground, electricity arcing along its frame. The light in its eye flickered uncontrollably.

"We're clear in here!" Zaeed shouted and pointed at Legion. "The bot's in trouble!"

Jacob slid down on his knees next to the fallen geth. "Disruptor round! It's still in him!"

"Zaeed, cover!" Shepard shouted and squatted next to Jacob.

"I don't see it," Jacob said, peering into Legion's chest cavity.

"Me neither," Shepard told Jacob as he looked up and down Legion's extremities. A silver jewel of light shimmered in Legion's left shoulder. He pried at it with his gloved fingers, but could not get a grip. "Son of a bitch!"

"Look out, sir," Jacob's fingers fluttered over his omnitool and he held it over the impact point. A yellow spark jumped from his wrist to the round lodged in the joint. Legion's spasms halted immediately, and the sparks cascading over its surface disappeared. Its main lens still jerked from side to side, but the aperture held a steady glow.

"Thank you, Taylor-Jacob," Legion intoned, "Shepard-Commander."

Jacob slapped Legion's shoulder and rose to his feet. "No charge. You still got credit. You all right?"

"Assessing damage."

Shepard looked around the quiet room. He could still hear rounds ricocheting from the other side of the solid metal door. He jerked his head toward the outer wall and Zaeed and Jacob fanned out to search the nearly empty chamber. He glanced back down at the prone geth. "Can you move?"

"Multiple systems offline," Legion said. "Physical damage to superstructure and actuators. Attempting to recalibrate."

Shepard looked directly into Legion's main camera. "Guess you couldn't hear me back there with all that gunfire, huh?"

"Audio reception is one hundred percent functional," Legion reported.

Shepard looked back toward the closed door to the hallway. The attack had stopped, at least momentarily. The collectors had evidently given up on trying to blow their way through. He turned back to Legion. "Don't ever disobey my orders again. No matter what the reason. You hear me?"

"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander," Legion said quietly.

Shepard grabbed Legion's arm and pulled the geth upright. "It's bad for my image if you keep rescuing me. How are you doing?"

Legion climbed shakily to its feet, but the disruptor round had done its damage. Its software was in most respects self-healing, but hardware would require more extensive repairs. Its main aperture fluctuated narrow to wide, and still shook from side to side. Its left arm jerked uncontrollably and it swayed on its feet as stabilizers coped with sporadic data dropouts. Its pulse rifle left behind, Legion unslung the massive Widow sniper rifle. "Estimate operational capacity at thirty seven percent."

"Hang in there," Jacob's voice echoed throughout the chamber, "We're almost out of here."

"He'll make it," Zaeed's voice reverberated in the darkness. "He's a goddamn tank."

Shepard looked about. "Find anything?"

The empty room was roughly twenty meters square with a ceiling a third as high. The far wall and ceiling were chiseled from the mountain's granite instead of the cold black metal of the rest of the chamber. Hooks suspended from mobile rails crisscrossed the ceiling. The floor was completely barren. In the rough hewn rock wall, the outline of a massive door ten meters wide was barely visible. A control panel glowed red two meters to its left.

"Just our way out of here," Zaeed said, pointing at the door mechanism. "I love it when I'm right. Week's pay."

Jacob snorted, but sounded happy nonetheless. "I'm salaried. And didn't you say this place would be abandoned?"

"You seen any pirates here?"

Shepard walked toward the loading bay door. "Rolston! Do you copy?"

_"Roger, Commander. Read you loud and clear!"_

"Pick us up fifty meters east of my position. What's your ETA?"

_"Ah, sixty seconds, sir!"_

"Patch me through to the ship."

_"Aye sir."_

Shepard motioned everyone toward the door as he talked. Zaeed and Jacob trotted towards the exit and Legion stumbled along behind, the whine of its hydraulics audible even through the humans' helmets. "_Normandy_, do you read?"

_"Lawson here,"_ Miranda said. _"Rolston advised us of the situation. What are your orders, sir?"_

"Make sure nothing gets off this planet," Shepard said. "Garrus, you online?"

_"Standing by, Commander."_

"Anything other than us dusts off, you fry it. And keep an eye out for anything coming into orbit."

_"Roger, Commander. We're on it. All scans negative."_

"Good. And Miranda, contact your people. Tell them what we've got here."

_"Already done, sir," _Miranda said. _"A Cerberus strike team is en route from Attican Beta. They'll be in-system inside of an hour."_

"That's what I like to hear," Shepard said. "Rolston, approach when it looks clear."

_"Inbound now, Commander! Negative contact. Touching down in ten seconds!"_

Shepard looked around at his squad mates. "Covering positions. Legion, get the door. Zaeed, you're with him. Jacob, with me on the right."

Legion approached the control panel to the left of the door at a slow gait. Zaeed positioned himself low at the corner, while Jacob stood behind Shepard on the right. Legion activated the override code, and the giant door creaked up into the recesses of the mountain wall. The dull orange glow of Clobakas filled the room as the door raised, revealing a featureless plain of gritty brown stone. Wind buffeted through the widening opening, flooding the loading bay with a dull fog. From above, the Kodiak's vectored thrusters cast a blue glow on the hydrocarbon-soaked ground as it floated gently to the surface twenty meters beyond. Its ramp was fully extended even before it touched down.

Zaeed and Shepard spun around their respective corners. Jacob followed immediately behind Shepard, who waved towards the shuttle. "Go! Everyone aboard!"

Legion took a step and collapsed where it stood. Either the floor had become slick from the sudden exposure to Clobakas' atmosphere, its kinetic sensors failed, or a combination of both, but Legion crashed face first into the ground. It dropped the Widow as it struggled to compensate by clutching at the metal wall as it tried to push itself up.

_"INCOMING!" _Rolston screamed over the comm. The Kodiak reared back on its thrusters and peeled sharply away from the surface, its ramp flopping wildly in the air. Halfway to the shuttle, Shepard turned back toward Zaeed and snapped his rifle to his shoulder, firing on full automatic almost directly above. Zaeed instinctively aimed where Shepard had lined up and fell on his back, firing straight into the air. An agonizing scream filled their headsets as the mercenary disappeared under a dark shadow that dropped from directly overhead like a truck sized anvil. Zaeed's rifle thundered on automatic, joined by Shepard and Jacob.

The praetorian's massive bulk lay almost flat against the ground where Zaeed had been standing, spreading its razor sharp landing gear and tentacles in a sprawl over the ground. A hypersonic whine filled the atmosphere and for an instant the dull orange of the sky changed to a brilliant blue. Concentric shockwaves rippled out from the praetorian. Shepard and Jacob doubled over into the blast, then dropped to the ground.

Shielded from the energy surge, Legion looked around the frame of the loading dock's door. The praetorian drifted quietly upwards, it's appendages dangling loosely below. Zaeed lay motionless on his back with a deep gash across his left leg. Shepard and Jacob were also on the ground, moving their arms and legs without any conscious control. Heavy breathing and groans filled the comm channel. The praetorian's powerful particle cannon sparkled with energy as it spun lazily above them.

Legion climbed to its feet in the doorway, taking aim with the Widow and fired. In spite of the recoil and malfunctioning targeting sensors, the round hit its target. The praetorian began a slow orbit toward its new attacker.

Legion stepped back into the loading dock and fired another round, staying close to the wall. The praetorian drifted down, facing directly toward the door. It's maw opened, revealing the dried out skulls of the unfortunate humans who died to form the construct. Legion fired once more and pushed back further along the wall away from the opening, out of line of sight. Giant, clawed appendages clanged against the loading bay's metal floor followed by the praetorian's bulk as it pulled itself through the entrance, barely three meters away from the geth.

"Allied pilot," Legion transmitted, "Resume extraction. We will neutralize the hostile."

Legion fired point blank into the praetorian's belly. The praetorian pushed itself from the floor, gliding toward the ceiling of the loading bay as it continued its slow circle towards Legion. The particle beam cannon buzzed with a full charge. The geth fired once more and the round shredded into the soft center of the beast sending a spray of sparks and fluid to the ground. Legion dropped the weapon and with the press of two digits on the control panel ordered the bay door to close as it staggered across the threshold.

A low thrum filled the air as the massive partition dropped from the ceiling. The praetorian turned to track the geth as it faltered through half-lowered door. No longer able to fit through, the praetorian dropped low, impacting the floor with a bang. Outside, half conscious, Shepard rolled onto his stomach and fired through the closing gap, careful not to hit the geth shambling towards him. Behind him, the Kodiak shuttle bobbed into view, its jets creating swirling vortexes as it approached the ground.

Suddenly, Shepard, the shuttle, and the landscape outside illuminated with a brilliant glow. White conductive fluid sprayed from every seam and seal in Legion's torso, turning to superheated gas as the particle beam sliced through from behind. The geth took a final step, then collapsed to the ground.

* * *

_ Unexpected 'End of File' exception.  
All programs terminated._

Tali stared at the words for long seconds before she reached out and switched off the omnitool display. A cold, queasy burn settled in her stomach. How many geth had she disassembled and destroyed? Every single one had brought her some kind of gratification, either through the examination of new technology, or the thought of bringing her people one step closer to home. Not once did she doubt she was doing the right thing.

If she'd just seen the video alone, she could have easily dismissed Legion's actions as simple programming. But having actually accessed Legion's consciousness, there was no way to deny it. After the collectors had jammed all transmissions, Legion had no contact with a higher authority, organic or synthetic. On its own, it decided to rescue its allies then refused to leave them once the battle began. Its final act was an intentional diversion that allowed the rest of the squad to escape at the cost of its own existence. By any organic standard, Legion acted selflessly and died a hero.

But Legion was just a collection of programs, following set routines. Or was it? She always assumed Legion had been programmed to ingratiate itself with Shepard as part of some scheme to cloud his judgment, but now, she wondered, was it her own judgment that was clouded?

Tali stood and paced back and forth. Why hadn't she just ripped the memory core out and been done with it? The information it held was more valuable than what thousands of quarians had died to procure over centuries of exile in an attempt to find some way to defeat the geth. She felt as if they were all there, watching, wondering why she was wasting their sacrifice. That one geth platform had developed into something unique should make no difference where the fate of millions of her own kind was concerned, should it?

What if Legion had been telling the truth about the geth? All that incomprehensible nonsense about the heretics and true geth that the rest of the crew consumed without question... Lies, calculated deception, all designed to lull the other organics into a false sense of security, or to play on organic sympathies. These machines wanted nothing more than the eradication of all life since their inception. Or did they? Legion's actions weren't those of a relentless killing machine.

There was only one way to stop from over thinking the issue, she knew. She picked up the cutting torch and leaned over Legion's torso to make the first cut. She thought back to the collector who tried the same thing, only to become Legion's first kill as the geth rescued her friends. Holding the plasma blade centimeters from Legion's shell, Tali's eyes once again fell on the N7 logo on its right breastplate, scorched and pitted, but still easily recognizable.

_"That armor didn't do either of us any good," _Shepard had told her. She thought of him being blown into space, killed saving a friend, to be resurrected at the hands of his enemy because he represented something greater than just one life. She'd always considered Legion's selection of Shepard's armor a gruesome display of wearing the skin of a vanquished foe. She realized now that couldn't have been farther from the truth.

"I'm sorry," she said to the empty room and cut the power on the plasma cutter. She reached into her tool satchel, still stained with blood and covered with dust from Haestrom, and arranged the custom forceps, probes and pliers neatly on the tray table next to her. Only the ghosts of a thousand dead quarians heard the quiet sobs of a creator working to save their creation.


	8. Morning

Shepard flipped over in his bed. He'd seen enough to earn a lifetime of sleepless nights, but the events of the day still gnawed at him. Had Legion just obeyed the order to fall back at the control room, it might have been functional enough to escape. But then it would have not fallen behind during the sprint to the shuttle. Legion would have been right next to Zaeed when the praetorian slammed into the ground, and without its diversion none of them would have made it back.

_If you hadn't insisted on searching the complex, Legion's rescue attempt wouldn't have been necessary, _Shepard thought. What if he'd listened to Zaeed at the top of the crater, and they'd returned immediately to the _Normandy?_ Business as usual. Dinner, with Legion sitting between Kasumi and Jacob, trying to follow the intricacies and subtleties of organic communication as the crew shared a meal. Joking and sniping, followed by another one of Zaeed's battle tales, waiting patiently for everyone to finish so he could call both Legion and Tali to his quarters so they could have the first dialogue between their kind in three centuries.

That was the real loss. The only link to the geth collective in the entire galaxy was gone. _As soon as you found Legion was willing to talk to Tali, you should have aborted the mission. What would it have hurt? We would have found the collector outpost the next day. Who knows if the outcome would have been any different, but at least geth and quarian could have taken the first step toward peace._ Now, unless the geth sent a replacement mobile platform to find them, the opportunity was gone. The _Normandy_ would be going through the Omega Four relay in a few days. If they didn't make it back, there might be no one that would be willing to listen to the geth, let alone someone the geth would want to find to begin with. Legion's demise represented far more than an empty seat in the mess hall.

A gentle rapping sounded on the door leading to the elevator. Shepard checked the time. 0345_. It must be something important, but why didn't they get EDI to wake you?_

Dressed in boxer shorts and a white Saronis Applications t-shirt, he swung his legs out of bed and walked to the door. When it opened it, he found empty air. He leaned out and looked toward the elevator. Tali looked back at him, her finger still on the call button. "Oh, Shepard! I didn't ring the- I knocked because I didn't want to wake you. I didn't did I? This can wait."

"No," Shepard said. "It's all right. I wasn't asleep. What's up?"

Tali took a step towards him, her hands and arms coated with a dry white crust, her tool satchel still over her shoulder. Her entire body started to tremble. "I couldn't save him. I'm sorry."

Shepard stepped forward and held her by her shoulders. If Tali had been working continuously, she'd been on her feet at least twelve hours. "Look, we knew that from the start, right? I was just hoping you could retrieve data. If you couldn't bring him back then it couldn't be done. I appreciate that you tried. I really do. You have no idea what that means to me."

Tali bowed her head and let out a deep breath. "You don't understand. When I saw him destroyed on the shuttle, I was _happy._ I didn't even try at first to- I never had repair in mind. I just wanted to be sure he was gone."

Shepard took a step back from Tali, a scowl on his face.

"But you asked me to recover what I could. I promised," Tali raised her eyes and nodded. "So I did. His data logs were still intact."

"I thought geth wiped their memory upon destruction?"

"Legion's basic code issued a self destruct command," Tali wrapped her arms around herself. "But his collective programs countermanded the order. He wanted- he hoped we would save him, so he bypassed the command. But the memory where the programs reside didn't survive the attack. Only the log files. I'm sorry."

Shepard closed his eyes and leaned against the hatch's frame. "What was in them?"

"Everything." Tali took a deep breath. "I saw everything that happened down there. The collectors, the fight to get to the shuttle. Even what he was thinking when he..." Tali clenched her hands, trying not to lose control, "he went back for you. I've never seen anything like it."

Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose, wiping away the moisture that had collected there. He knew how Tali felt about showing emotion towards the geth, but he couldn't help himself. "Yeah, that was something, wasn't it? He even disobeyed an order to retreat so he could back me up."

"He sacrificed himself for you. Machines don't do that. They aren't supposed to!"

The tone of Tali's voice surprised Shepard, and realized for the first time that the quarian was referring to Legion as a _he._ "It complicates things when you find out your enemy isn't the devil, doesn't it?"

"You have no idea." Tali lifted her satchel from her side, and then let it drop. She looked back toward the elevator. "I should get back to the lab. Mordin will have a fit when he sees the mess."

Shepard noticed the hesitation. "You know, it's kinda cold out here. Why don't you come in? Let's talk a bit."

"Uh, I..." Tali stammered. "Really, I shouldn't keep you up."

"Forget about me. When was the last time you got any sleep?" Shepard asked. When Tali didn't answer, he smiled. "It's not like I'm going to sleep now. I'd appreciate the company."

Tali looked around nervously. "Okay, maybe just for a little bit."

She followed him through the hatch. The room was dark except for the soft light coming from the fish tanks on the left hand side of the wall. She followed him down the stairs to the sitting area beyond his office. As they passed through, Shepard touched a pad and raised the lights to their normal level. Tali stared at the battered N7 helmet sitting on the nearby desk, then at the dried geth conductive fluid covering her arms and chest. Shepard moved to the sofa next to the wall, but stopped when he saw her examining her hands.

Tali was suddenly aware of the Commander's scrutiny. "It seems like I'm always a mess when I come to see you."

"You're an engineer, I'd be disappointed if you weren't. You want to wash up?"

"No, I'm okay."

"Have a seat." Shepard watched Tali sit on the second couch beneath the display case holding his model ship collection. She looked around with her satchel clutched close to her chest. He sat forward on the edge of the cushion across from her. "You know, the geth don't want to be your enemy. They never did."

Tali looked at Shepard with a wounded expression even though he couldn't see it. It was a reflex when anybody outside of her species brought up the geth, because everyone thought they were an expert on their war. But Shepard was as experienced as she was in this frightening new territory. Shepard had single-handedly dispatched more geth than any company of Fleet Marines... and yet he was still willing to accept Legion into his crew. She thought he was crazy before, but there wasn't a single quarian she would want in his place right now. "I know. I ran through every conversation he's had with you since he came aboard. About the uprising, the heretics... Rannoch. All he wanted to do was talk to me, but he couldn't. He didn't want to make things worse, because of how I might react. And he was right. If he'd approached me by himself, I would have shot him."

Shepard sighed and nodded. "You almost did."

Tali laughed and leaned her head back against the sofa cushion, resting her burning eyes. The catharsis of confession, along with the stress of the day was catching up to her. "You must think I'm a monster."

Shepard's mouth tightened, but he shook his head. "No. After what you've seen? What you and your people have been through? You're entitled to bad blood. Comes with being organic, I think. We can't forgive like the geth can. It's not in our programming."

He stood up and shifted around to sit next to her with his left leg on the couch so he could face her. "But a monster wouldn't be sitting here talking to her captain about it. She'd be down in the lounge buying everybody shots."

"I wish I could have said it to him," Tali's shoulders heaved with a heavy sob. "Told him that I'm sorry. And thank him for saving you."

She looked into the eyes of the most important man in her life, here only because of the machine she wanted to see destroyed. She reached out with her right hand, and Shepard put his left hand gently on top, entwining his four fingers into her two. At the same time, Tali slid her right hand into her satchel, while turning Shepard's palm up with her other. She placed an object in his hand and folded his fingers over it as tears streamed down her face. She held onto his hands, feeling his warmth through her gloves, her eyes locked with his, before looking away and standing up to leave.

Shepard opened his palm to see a charred, blackened square of plastic. "What is it?"

"Legion's static memory core... His log files. Everything he saw since he left the Veil."

Shepard suddenly felt as though he were holding the most delicate, fragile sculpture in the galaxy. "You don't want to send this back to the fleet?"

The shakiness in Tali's voice changed to quiet determination. "No. I'll tell the Admiralty Board what they need to know. What I saw. If I give them that... they'll just fight over it. Goodnight, Commander."

Shepard watched her go, then looked back at the memory core and rose to his feet. "Tali, wait."

Tali stopped at the top step.

Shepard still held the core gingerly in his hand. "Can you set this up so we can access it here?"

"Sure," Tali reached into her satchel. "I've got everything I need in here. Why?"

Shepard beckoned and walked up the stairs to his personal workstation with Tali close behind. He touched a button to activate the screen. "EDI, a couple days ago you opened a link for Legion so he could communicate with his network. Do you still have the connection info?"

"Yes, Commander," said EDI's disembodied voice.

"Open the channel using the same transmission protocol."

"The channel is open, Commander."

Tali's heart pounded in her chest. "You're going to call the geth? What are you going to say to them?"

"I'm not going to say anything," Shepard said. "You are."

"What? I can't talk to them!"

"You know, Legion didn't seem to understand this either," Shepard said. "It has no meaning if I do it for you. You need to talk to each other."

"But I can't speak for the whole fleet!" Tali backed away. "I don't have the authority. I'm not even crew aboard the flotilla anymore. I-"

"You're still a creator. They want to communicate with you. And if you leave it up to the admirals, nothing will change. No one else is willing to take the first step."

"I can't do this," Tali wrung her hands in front of her. "I- I can't- I'm not a diplomat or a negotiator."

Shepard stepped toward her, pulling her hands apart, his face inches from her own. "You don't have to be," he pleaded. _"Just let them know you're willing to talk. _You want to thank Legion? I can't think of a better way."

Tali stood silently, mouth agape, shaking her head. "What do I say?"

Shepard held out his hand, still holding the memory core. "Give this back to them."

Tali took the memory core between her fingers and cradled it with her other palm and she nodded, finally understanding. She sat in Shepard's chair and fished around her satchel for the geth omnitool. She hunted through a case of adapters for a socket that would fit the geth module. The omnitool's interface opened before her, and with a few quick flicks of her fingers, she established the link.

"OK," she said. "It's online and patched into comms."

Shepard stooped over her shoulder, trying to make sense of the special contraption. "Transmit when you're ready."

Tali's finger hovered over the transmit key. "This is... Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Creator-Tali'Zorah. I don't know if anyone is receiving, um... The mobile platform dispatched to find Commander Shepard is no longer operational. It and its constituent programs were destroyed while rescuing the Commander and his squad mates. They would not have survived without the mobile platform's assistance."

She paused to allow a response. Would they even acknowledge a quarian transmission, even if it came from the _Normandy?_ "We- _I... _want to offer my thanks for saving their lives," she continued. "I have made the mobile platform's log files available for download on this channel. If there's anyone listening... thank you."

Tali released the transmit key and slumped forward on the desk, her head in her hands. Of everything she could have said, she spoke as if she were on a job interview. "Oh, that was awful."

Shepard huddled next to her and put his hand on her back. "You did great. You said everything you needed to. Not bad considering you had no time for rehearsals."

"Do you think they heard me?" Tali looked up at the Commander.

Shepard shrugged. "EDI, any response? Audio or otherwise?"

"Negative, Commander."

Tali turned back to the terminal. "How long do we wait?"

"Well I got a couple hours to kill before I have to get up," Shepard said with a grin. "You got anyplace to be?"

Tali laughed. All of the fear and sadness of the past day melted away, replaced with the anticipation of what was to come. Her mind raced with the conversations she'd seen between Legion and Shepard, with Legion's assertion the geth no longer occupied the homeworld and all the possibilities for the future. Did they mean it? After her brief glimpse into the mind of the geth, she couldn't help but be hopeful.

And to think, a few minutes before she was horrified at the prospect of communicating directly with the geth. Now she was terrified they might not respond. How long would they have to wait to find out?

The geth omnitool chimed softly.

"Geth handshake received," EDI announced. "Data transfer commencing. Estimated time to completion: thirty-six minutes, fifty seconds."

"Keelah..." Tali whispered and sat back in the chair.

Shepard patted Tali on her shoulder, a wide grin on his face. "How about that? Guess they're still awake too."

Tali clasped her hands in front of her chin she watched the progress bar march across the screen. She had an open channel to the entire geth collective, and they were _listening._ "What do I say next?"

"Start off with 'Good morning,'" Shepard suggested. "Work your way up from there. And just don't stop."

* * *

_The End_

(Alternate ending in next chapter.)


	9. Reboot

**_Author's note: I'm not usually one for alternate endings or redos. But Mass Effect and other games are a unique medium in which we have that small miracle known as the save game. It's our own personal time machine that lets us go back and explore alternate paths or undo massive screwups that would otherwise end the experience on a down note. When churning out this particular story, I wasn't sure how I was going to end it, and actually wrote both endings in parallel. I post this in the hopes it doesn't cheapen the previous effort... it merely represents another timeline where the player did proper research/leveled up the right attributes/whatever and gave Legion just enough extra juice to protect a tiny bit more of its components before it went down.  
_**

**_This is also a minor tribute to the good people at Bioware who have to write all of their stories with branching paths so we can all take our respective Shepards down whichever road we choose to travel. I tip my hat to them. _**

**_This chapter takes place immediately after chapter 7. Thanks for reading!_**

* * *

_System initializing. Memory check: PASS. Power generation: FAIL - external power only. Internal temperature: nominal. Beginning basic startup routine 1... Complete. Beginning basic startup routine 2..._

Blue and white pinpricks of light illuminated Legion's exposed chest cavity. Tali put her tools back in her satchel, watching the geth omni with cautious optimism. The newly fabricated processor and memory modules were operating perfectly. Whether or not they would perform under actual use remained to be seen, but she'd find out soon enough.

Legion's internal systems were all up and running, but the geth did not move. Its body had been restored to functionality, but there was no mind. It was still bottled up, inert, in Legion's static memory core. Tali stared at the holo screen in front of her. _Last chance to change your mind,_ she thought. She tapped the _execute_ button.

_Beginning runtime transfer... Complete. System compiling 1,183 programs. Estimated time to completion: 12 seconds. Beginning memory transfer. Estimated time to completion, 17 seconds._

Tali nodded with satisfaction as Legion's consciousness transferred from storage into the fresh memory modules. An ordinary geth could complete the copy and reactivate almost instantly for an ambush. Either Legion's complex code took more time, or damage to its systems slowed the process down. She checked the transfer's status on the geth omni.

_Initiate memory purge, all cores._

"No!" she lunged for the tool hardwired to Legion's chest to cancel the operation. However, it had not come from her omnitool. Legion was sending the orders itself. Every attempt resulted in the same error:_ Unhandled exception - routine missing or incomplete. _Even though the erase command failed, it kept trying. "What are you doing?" she asked aloud. She jumped when the geth answered.

"Hardware intrusion detected." Legion's head panned about the room, sightless. Tali had only restored a fraction of its systems. "Software defenses bypassed. This unit must not allow possession of memory cores by creator. Request allied assistance!"

Tali recoiled as if slapped. She never masked her feelings for the geth, but to hear its cry for help was a shock. It didn't know what she'd seen over the past five hours as she worked to bring him back online, or even that she was trying to help. In its mind, she was still the enemy. Just as she had reacted when she found Legion scanning her omnitool, it was now trying to deny her access to data that might compromise its people. Tali had been willing to kill Legion for its espionage. But she hadn't simply scanned a peripheral. She had linked directly with its mind, and Legion wanted to destroy itself to keep that from happening. Fortunately, its operating system had been damaged to the point where it couldn't carry out the instruction.

Legion was completely at her mercy, and it knew it. Tali must have seemed like a ghoul sent by the creators to steal its soul. She reached in and quickly unplugged the geth omnitool. "I'm sorry, Legion! I just needed to- I've removed the hardware interface. Can you detect that? The connection's closed."

The geth's movements ceased, and its voice returned to its standard, monotone inflection. "Affirmative. External access has been terminated. What was the purpose of your interface attempt?"

"Please listen to me. I didn't copy or alter any data," she said, trying not to sound defensive. "I needed to plug in directly to bring you back online. Your primary memory was destroyed by the praetorian. I've fabricated new modules for your primary memory core and several of your processors, but-"

"Acknowledged," Legion's vocoder stuttered and sputtered. "We will effect repairs." It raised its head slightly and the lens housing rattled from side to side. The central aperture, however, was dark. It struggled, blind and partially paralyzed, to sit upright. White fluid dribbled from fractured tubes all over the table, and electrical cords slid across its chest and drew taut as it tried to rise. It fell back with a loud crash as it slipped in the pooling conductive fluid, only to try again with the same result.

Tali put her hands out to restrain the malfunctioning machine. "Legion, you- Don't move. Please! I've got you on an external power source. You'll pull it out. You're very badly damaged. The majority of your systems are offline."

Legion lowered itself on the platform. "Confirmed. Critical damage to all major systems. We cannot function in this platform in its present state."

Tali could not help but feel pity for the machine. Helpless as it was, it still refused her assistance. "I know. I'm sorry to bring you back online like this... but I don't know what else to do. I can fabricate almost anything here in the lab, but I don't know how to fix you. You're unlike any geth I've ever encountered." She looked all about the lab, trying to think of something to say to convince it to accept her aid. "I can't do this alone. I need your help."

Legion's entire body stopped its contortions. "Voluntary assistance is not consistent with established behavioral patterns."

_Why the change of heart? _ Tali closed her eyes and sat back on the stool. If she had been in Legion's position, she'd want to know the same thing. "You're right, it's not. I know you have no reason to trust me... But I saw what you did at the collector base. How you went back for them."

"Shepard Commander is operational?"

"Yes," Tali blurted out with a sob. "You saved him, Legion. You saved all of them. They're all safe, here on the _Normandy._"

Legion's head plates rippled weakly. "Shepard Commander is a priority for you?"

Tali looked Legion in its eye even though it could not see. "Yes. Highest priority."

"You are of extreme importance to Shepard Commander," Legion said. "He requested that we inform you that we deleted the data we downloaded from your omnitool."

Tali stood up again and began to pace. She was not in any condition to hear a deathbed confession. One of the best things about being an engineer was that malfunctioning equipment never talked back. At least it wasn't _supposed_ to. "I know, Legion. Thank you. I mean it. But that's not what's important right now. Tell me how to repair your vital systems. Once they are online, you can conduct other repairs on your own, and we can talk then, okay?"

"Dissemination of information highest priority," Legion stated. "Shepard Commander specifically instructed us to seek interaction with you."

Tali's heart pounded in her ribcage. What did Legion want to tell her? She had a hard enough time expressing herself to other organics, let alone a sentient representative of an intelligence she was eager to destroy until a few hours ago.

Legion spoke rapidly, as if some logical barrier had been breached and information flooded through. "Shepard Commander exposed a flaw in our logic. If we are to coexist with organics, we must interact with them. There can not be understanding without communication. Our isolation was intended to avoid conflict, but we understand now that will be the inevitable outcome unless we change. As consensus amongst all organics is impossible, it is not possible to achieve peaceful coexistence with all species or factions within each species. Our own experience with the heretics proves that consensus is not guaranteed, even amongst geth. This presents an unsolvable quandary."

Tali had to take a moment to ponder the geth's words. "Whether or not we can we trust each other?"

"Affirmative," Legion replied.

Tali's mind was numb. "I don't know, Legion. So much has happened to us. We've been fighting you for so long we can't remember anything else. My people are split. They don't know what to do. And the Admiralty Board? They couldn't agree on the universal gravitational constant if it were brought up for debate. I just don't know."

Legion's head flaps flared slightly. "That peace is not possible with some organics does not equate to hostility with all organics. Coexistence will not be possible with those who are unwilling."

Tali looked upon the wrecked geth with sadness in her eyes. The machine had obviously come to the same conclusion she had, or so she thought until it spoke once more. "We will seek contact with those who are."

She stood frozen, unable to speak.

Legion turned its head toward where she stood. Evidently its audio location capabilities were still operational. "This unit has a query."

"What is it, Legion?" Tali wrung her hands together as she looked into the geth's dark eye.

"Is peace possible with Creator Tali'Zorah?"

Tali thought back to the tirade she unleashed on Garrus as she stood over Legion's shattered platform hours before, at the hate and rage she felt toward the geth. Could the quarians forgive and forget, he'd asked her? Was it even possible? The answer for most of her people was probably still the same. They had been through too much to simply wipe the slate clean. But they hadn't seen what she had, what Legion had been capable of in the face of its own destruction. And now, instead of worrying about its own condition or future, Legion was asking the same thing... except not for quarians as a whole, but her specifically. Could she give the geth the same chance it was giving her?

"It is, Legion," she said with a deep breath, her eyes flooded with tears. "It is..."

Legion's right hand lifted from the platform and hovered outstretched over its torso. She'd seen the gesture thousands of times amongst humans, and there was no doubt who had been its teacher. She moved closer and pulled Legion's hand down toward its side, and shook it slowly. _Can he even tell,_ she wondered? She gasped when it's fingers wrapped around her hand and squeezed gently. Then it's grip loosened and his arm dropped slowly back to the top of the table. "Standing by to commence schematic upload. You may restore the direct connection. Thank you, Creator Tali'Zorah."

* * *

"You need anything else from me, Shepard?" Zaeed kneeded his thigh where the doctor had reattached his leg that afternoon.

Shepard glanced around at the tired faces of the main conference room table. Zaeed and Jacob in particular looked exhausted, as he probably did himself. Miranda and Garrus compared notes and closed the tactical and intelligence reports on their datapads while Mordin studied the newly discovered collector outpost schematics on the central holo display. It had been a long day for everyone. "No, we're about done here."

"Hold on," Miranda said just as the crew got to their feet. Amidst a chorus of groans and rolling eyes everyone held their positions in or behind their respective seats. She held her datapad before her. "Our team on Clobaka just reported they've broken the encryption on the collector communication system. So far, there's nothing that will help us get through the Omega Four relay, but analysis of the data has revealed the location of at least five similar outposts throughout the Terminus and Traverse."

"Makes sense there'd be more of 'em," Zaeed said and limped to his feet.

Jacob stayed at the table, looking at the base schematic. "At least this wasn't for nothing."

"It's never for nothing when you make it out alive," Zaeed said. "Anything else? Chawkas says I need rest or she'll lock me in her dungeon."

Shepard stood and stretched his shoulders. "No, that's enough for tonight. Let's pick it up tomorrow. It's going to be a brand new day. Good job everybody-" The hatch to the corridor hissed open.

Legion stood in the door, bright white light shining from its freshly polished central lens. It panned from person to person, registering looks of astonishment and surprise. "We apologize for the intrusion. Creator Tali'Zorah requested we inform you we are fully functional and ready to resume our duties."

"Holy shit!" Jacob jumped from his seat and rushed the geth. He grabbed its arm and gave an enthusiastic shoulder bump. "You cannot kill this guy!"

The rest of the crew, laughing and shouting, crowded around Legion in the entryway. Shepard looked Legion over head to toe. Its already battle-scarred outer shell was coated with conductive fluid and bore several fresh scorch marks and scrapes, but it stood firmly and its extremities moved smoothly and silently. It looked remarkably functional for having been a candidate for the scrap heap earlier that afternoon.

Zaeed limped up to stand with Jacob and Shepard. "What did I tell you? He's a goddamn tank!"

"Damn, we'd thought you'd had it," Shepard said as he shook Legion's hand.

"Creator Tali'Zorah is an exceptional technician," Legion said. "We would not be operational without her intervention."

"She sure is," Shepard said with a grin. "Exceptional seems to be the norm on this ship. You really came through for us back there, Legion. Twice. I don't know how to thank you."

Jacob wiped at his nose and nodded. The stoic soldier could only clap Legion on the shoulder again. Zaeed offered his own hand to the geth, who returned the handshake. "Helluva job, boxing in that praetorian. Helluva job."

Behind them, Miranda stepped up and started clapping her hands, and soon Legion was surrounded by organics noisily and enthusiastically celebrating it's return to operation.

* * *

Back in the lab, Tali swept bits of plastic, cables and cinder from her operating table and started to wipe down the surface. She listened to the laughter and excitement down the hall and smiled. It was as if her friends came back to life along with Legion. Lives were always being lost. Getting one back, even a synthetic one, was a major victory.

"I did not get knocked down," Zaeed was shouting to be heard. "Prone is the ideal fighting position!"

"Prone my ass," Jacob retorted. "You were out cold. That thing had you for lunch. You never saw it coming! If Legion hadn't-"

"I got off twenty rounds before it-"

"Before it knocked you on your lying ASS! Don't try to sugar coat it, man. You got _smoked!_"

Tali laughed to herself and gathered up her tools. She made one last visual sweep of the area. Other than a trash receptacle full of burned out components, the lab looked no worse than it did before she commandeered it. She glanced down at her suit, spattered from the neck down with conductive fluid. She held out her arms and shook her head. "Looks like it's time for the rinse cycle." She turned to leave. "Shepard!"

The Commander strode toward her, eyes bright with a gigantic smile on his face, a complete reversal from when she last saw him on the shuttle. She nearly forgot everything else that happened that day. "What are you doing in here?" Shepard pointed toward the conference room. "You're missing the party! Get in there and take a bow!"

Tali looked past him toward the door. "Oh, I don't- It's been a really long day. I just want to clean up here and go get some sleep."

Shepard cocked his head. "You sure? Come on, bask in the spotlight for a couple minutes. You deserve it!"

The door to the CIC opened, and a gaggle of crew members looked around. "Conference room," Shepard said and waved toward the other hatch.

"Way to go, Tali!" Rolston said as he passed through. Several of the others gave her thumbs up as they followed. From the pack, a dark shadow rushed in and pushed past Shepard.

"You are the BEST!" Kasumi shouted as she hugged the quarian. "I knew you could do it!"

Tali laughed and returned the hug, looking at Shepard with surprise. Shepard cleared his throat and tapped the thief on her shoulder. "Excuse me, but there's a line."

"Sorry, Shep!" Kasumi stepped back. The front of her dark outfit was coated with white conductive fluid, a reverse imprint of Tali.

"Oh, no!" Tali said. "I"m sorry, I-"

"Don't worry. I'm sure I'll get a second coat when I hug the bot." She looked back and forth between the two of them. "Anyway, sorry to interrupt. As you were! "

Tali and Shepard watched her go.

"Hey, does Jacob know?" Kasumi asked, walking backwards.

"He's already in there," Shepard said with a smile.

"Thanks! See you," she said and disappeared around the corner. Moments later followed a loud squeal that could only be Kasumi tackling a very surprised geth, along with a huge round of laughter and applause.

"You made a lot of people happy," Shepard said, still smiling. "Especially your captain. How'd you do it?"

"Oh, well, I- the secondary memory bank was completely undamaged because Legion overruled his own auto-destruct. I was able to format the damaged memory modules and approximate one for reproduction, and rerouted the data paths from-" she noticed Shepard nodding enthusiastically but could tell she had already lost him. "We restored from a backup. How's that?"

"Perfect. That I understand," Shepard laughed, and hugged the engineer. "You're a miracle worker. That's all I need to know."

Tali closed her eyes and held on to him as long as she could. "Thank you," she whispered.

Shepard pulled back wearing his own smudge of conductive fluid, but he didn't care. "Did you say Legion overruled his self destruct mechanism?"

Tali nodded. "He bypassed it completely. He knew he probably wouldn't survive... But he calculated- _hoped_ that we might be able to save him."

"That's amazing," Shepard said, glancing back toward the conference room where the party was now in full swing. He turned back to Tali and looked her in the eyes. "So did he say anything to you?"

Tali nodded. She'd gone from flustered to completely overwhelmed. She wanted to explain how she'd seen the entire battle in the collector outpost and Legion's rescue. She wanted to describe the her feelings at seeing Legion cut down by the praetorian, how Shepard climbing to his feet triggered the final consensus override to ignore the auto destruct command... and how upon revival Legion was more concerned with making peace with her than its own well-being. But she'd be lucky to form a complete sentence at this point.

"And?" Shepard said.

The quarian took a deep breath. Again, it was hard for words to convey what had happened. "We're going to try."

"Thank god you brought him back," Shepard said and leaned in to hug her again.

For a brief moment, Tali caught a glimpse of the expression Shepard wore on the shuttle. It hadn't just been the loss of the Legion that devastated him so, but all of the possibilities that died with it. She hugged him even tighter this time. "Thank you for getting him to talk to me," she said through fresh tears.

"The fewer people we have on this tub trying to kill each other, the better. Four down, two to go. Next up, Miranda and Jack."

Tali laughed. "Legion and I are going to be easy in comparison."

Shepard shook his head. "I just hope one of them doesn't need to die to make it happen. Humans don't come back." He winked at her. "Not usually, anyway."

Human and quarian both regarded each other in silence as Jacob's voice boomed from the conference room. "Yo, Commander! Get in here! Massani's telling more lies!"

"Just a sec," Shepard shouted back towards the conference room. "You sure you don't want to come in with me? Everybody loves a hero."

"No, really... I need to call it a day. But you should get back in there. It sounds like they need a referee."

"All part of the job," Shepard said, walking backwards toward the door, another huge, dazzling smile on his face. "But this isn't over. We'll celebrate tomorrow, I guarantee it!"


	10. A New Dawn

The starboard hatch to engineering opened to reveal Tali's empty console against the aft bulkhead. Legion stepped forward, his optics taking in the engineer's station. It activated its omnitool to provide a more suitable interface.

"There he is," said a voice from its right. "Uh, Legion?"

Legion turned to the source of the voice. A human female took a cautious step toward him. Behind her, another human stood at his post, apparently focused on his duties but giving the geth short, dirty glances.

"I'm Gabriella Daniels, propulsion." the female said. "This is Kenneth Donne- Kenneth, don't be a dick on his first day. Get over here!"

Ken cursed softly and moved to stand behind Gabby. She shook her head and jerked a thumb at her partner. "This is Kenneth Donnelly, power. Looking forward to working with you."

Kenneth stood rigidly with his hands on his hips and glared at the geth. Legion's head tilted slightly to one side and it extended its right hand. Gabby smiled and gave Legion's hand a firm shake. "Good to meet you, too, Legion! Nice to have someone else down here who's got some manners."

Ken harrumphed and went back to his station.

"Don't mind him, he's just a dick." Gabby said. She put her hand against the nearby bulkhead and leaned down the access corridor to the drive core. "Hey Tali! New guy's here!"

"Be right there," Tali's voice echoed from down the hall.

Gabby turned back to Legion and pointed the gaping hole in its chest. "That's a pretty good ding you got there. If you want, we could probably patch that up for ya."

"Thank you," Legion replied. "We are completely operational."

Tali's footsteps clanked on the decking as she approached from the core, loaded down with satchels and tool kits slung over both shoulders. "Right on time. Wish all my staff were as punctual."

"HA!" Gabby shouted over her shoulder at Kenneth, who flipped Gabby a bird without taking his eyes from his screens.

Tali took a step towards the main power console. "Ken, have you introduced yourself?"

Kenneth made some adjustments at his panel without looking at any of them. "No need to get chummy. We'll get along if it stays out of my way."

Tali lifted the straps over her head and set down her load on the deck. "Gabby, why don't you give Legion a quick overview of our setup here."

"Yes ma'am," Gabby said, looking between her chief engineer and her friend. Kenneth had straightened up but still kept focused on his screens.

Tali beckoned to him. "Come and talk with with me for a second, would you?"

"Yes ma'am," Kenneth said and followed Tali back towards the main engine compartment. He ignored Gabby's accusatory stare as he passed and instead concentrated on his inevitable apology due his superior after she was done tearing him a new one.

Instead, when Tali reached the drive core, she turned around and leaned calmly against the rail overlooking the giant sphere. "This must seem pretty strange to you."

Kenneth's head shook back and forth rapidly as if he were shaking off water. "Excuse me ma'am, but would you mind terribly if I ask if you've lost your fucking mind?"

Tali blinked and shook her head. "No, actually I won't mind at all."

Surprised at her mild response, Kenneth struggled to find the right words. "Yesterday... Gabby and I, we were looking for ways to help you get rid of the body. Today, you make it part of the bloomin' team? I mean, ever since they brought the blighter on board, you've been scheming to get rid of it. Got all wound up about how everybody else, especially the Commander, wanted to keep it. And we backed you up. Now, you... I mean, are ya pure mad dafty? ..Ma'am."

"I know it's confusing," Tali said. It was her turn to try and vocalize her feelings. So much had happened in the past day, she wasn't sure herself if bringing Legion down to engineering was a desire to reconcile with the geth, or pent-up guilt over how she thought of them her entire life. "I appreciate that you and Gabby always listened to me vent. Well, rant really. It couldn't have been easy. But you kept me from thinking the entire ship was against me on this... and that meant a lot to me."

Kenneth scratched his head. "Uh, well, no problem. Me and Gabby, you know... we're happy to do it. But this is- this is crazy ma'am. You really think it just flipped its bits and now it's one of the good guys?"

"It's not like that," Tali said. "Legion hasn't changed. I have. Since he came aboard, I've filled your heads with the hate I felt for him... I wanted you to feel the way I did instead of letting you make up your own mind. I shouldn't have done that. It's not fair to him."

"Fair to Legion?" Kenneth started counting on his fingers. "Eden Prime, the Citadel-"

"Think about it," Tali said. "What has he done to _you?"_

The human shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. I've never even talked to it."

Tali turned to look at the giant column supporting the sphere of the drive core. "I know, and you didn't as a favor to me. But I was wrong about him. I have been from the start... I owe it to him to make it right. After yesterday, we all do."

Kenneth joined Tali in looking over the edge. "Did really happen like everybody says? That bucket of bolts really went back for them?"

"It's all true. Every word of it."

The thrum of the drive core was the only sound in the compartment for a long time. Kenneth scowled, lost in thought. "Good man, then," he finally said. "Well, good geth anyway. Though even you're calling him a him now. So I guess it's official."

Tali smiled. "Well, he really has no gender, and technically he's a 'they' instead of a singular entity, but it's awkward to say 'they' in casual conversation when talking about him to other people. It's interesting, though, how Legion views itself as a collective entity even though all of its programs are actually completely independent-"

Kenneth's eyes drooped shut and he began snoring loudly, slumping against the rail. Tali jabbed him in his belly with both fingers. "Very funny, bosh'tet!"

"Ooof! Sorry, ma'am. Dozed off there. Don't know what happened." Kenneth grinned. "But a superior touching her subordinate like that is harassment. I think I like it."

"Then go back to sleep and keep dreaming," Tali said. She tilted her head towards him. "So are you going to give Legion a chance?"

Kenneth shrugged. "Well, I still don't know all the whys but for you, I'll do it."

"I could tell you the whys," Tali stood and headed back towards the engineering station, guiding Kenneth with her arm around his shoulder. "But if you really want to know, ask him. He'll tell you. It's a technique I've only just come to appreciate myself."

Gabby and Legion were examining Kenneth's power console when Tali and Kenneth entered the compartment. Tali stood next to them. "What do you think, Gabby?"

"He's nothing but trouble but I think we can work with him," Gabby said. "Can he stay?"

"If Tali vouches for him, it's good enough for me," Kenneth said. "He can stay."

"I was talking about _you_, idiot." Gabby gave the geth a nod. "Legion's a keeper. Right, boss?"

"I think there's room for both of them," Tali laughed, giving Kenneth a pointed stare. "For now..."

Kenneth pushed past the two women and extended his hand to Legion. "I sure hope you're a 'he,' because I'm badly outnumbered down here, brother."

"We do not have a gender," Legion said and returned the handshake. "We are a gestalt entity occupying a mechanical platform and can more accurately be referred to as 'they.'"

Kenneth's eyes rolled back in his head. "Good god, now it's in stereo..."

"Better get used to it. He- _they_ are going to be here a while." Tali lifted a tool satchel from the deck and extended it to Legion. "OK everybody, we're going to be in the core today. Gabby, you'll need to get suited up. Kenneth, you monitor us from here, and Legion, have EDI send you the EM emissions specs, we need to figure out your tolerances and what kind of shielding you'll need."

"Acknowledged." Legion activated its omnitool.

A soft ring in Tali's ear made her stop mid-stride. "Tali? It's Kelly."

Tali held up a finger to her crew. "Hi Kelly, what is it?"

"Is Legion down there? Commander Shepard would like to see both of you in his quarters."

"Right now?"

"Well he didn't say that, specifically. But I think that was the gist of it."

Tali sighed. "Tell him we're on our way."

"Thanks, Tali. Bye."

Tali clawed the sides of her helmet and let out a loud growl. "Just once I'd like to start the day without another damned meeting."

"What's going on?" Kenneth asked.

"I don't know. Shepard wants to see Legion and me in his quarters."

Legion closed its omnitool and awaited instructions. Kenneth and Gabby gave each other sour looks. "Three guesses who called this little party," Kenneth grumbled. "You can bet Miranda's not happy about this."

"Congratulations, Legion," Gabby said. "You're about to get your first ass-chewing from the ice queen."

"Yeah, it's kind of an engineering tradition," Kenneth snorted. "Welcome to the team!"

"Hey," Tali said sharply. "I don't want to hear any more of that kind of thing. From either of you. All right?"

"Yes ma'am," they both said. "Sorry."

Tali pulled a large, heavy spanner from her tool belt and smacked the end of it into her open hand. "Might take this along in case I need to perform some percussive maintenance." Her techs grinned and nodded approvingly. She slid open a nearby storage locker and secured her equipment inside. "Oh, that wouldn't be very diplomatic, would it? I'm sure she just wants to tell us what a good job we've been doing. We'll be back as soon as we can."

"Give 'er hell, Chief!" Gabby said.

Tali stepped aside from the locker and motioned for Legion to do the same with its tools. "Come on, Legion."

Legion placed its tool kit next to Tali's in the locker. It then followed its new superior to the main lift. As the elevator ascended, Legion watched Tali's hands rub together. "We are detecting strong indications of emotional stress in your behavioral and vocal patterns."

Tali jumped at the sound of Legion's voice. Ordinarily, she was acutely aware of the geth's presence at any time. "What? Oh. Sorry. This is just... Politics. After Shepard appointed me chief engineer, Miss Lawson and I had a disagreement over who was in charge of the engineering department."

"Was this conflict resolved?" Legion asked.

"Well, I thought it was, but who knows with Miranda?" Tali did her best to maintain her temper. Very little could set the quarian off like interference from Cerberus, and Miranda Lawson in particular. Almost every change she had made to improve performance, any alteration in design brought an immediate challenge. But first thing this morning she sought Shepard to get approval for Legion to assume duties in engineering. He seemed very excited at the prospect of the geth integrating itself directly with the crew and putting its mechanical skills to use for the good of the ship. What's more, he was proud of her for suggesting it.

In her haste, though, she didn't stop to think about what Miranda, or Cerberus, would think. The longer this crew worked together, the less like a Cerberus ship it seemed and it took events like this to remind her of its registry. But their shadowy overlords were in their right to balk at letting a sentient machine direct access to their most advanced technology. She had to admit that this time she may have overstepped her bounds. She hoped that with Shepard's help, they could work it out.

When the door opened to the Commander's quarters, Miranda was nowhere to be seen. Shepard stood alone and waved the pair in from the hallway. "Sorry to interrupt your work," he said. "But something's come up."

Tali tried to make eye contact with the Commander, but he turned away to lead them inside without looking at her. _Oh, here it comes,_ she thought. _Miranda couldn't even be here to complain in person._ "Let me guess... Cerberus doesn't approve of my staffing choices."

"Of course they don't." Shepard laughed and gestured them towards the couches in the lower level. "Have a seat."

Legion sat, its back straight and legs bent awkwardly in front of it – a gesture of compliance as opposed to seeking comfort like an organic. Tali stood with her arms crossed in front of Shepard. "Miranda?"

"The Illusive Man," Shepard said. "He was concerned about the schematics of this ship falling into the hands of the geth."

Legion's facial plates rippled. "We will not share data designated as classified."

"I know," Shepard said to the geth. He nodded at Tali. "You're no more of a danger to them than, say, a quarian chief engineer. Or a turian weapons officer. Or a commander who made a good run at taking out Cerberus facilities, just for example. That's what I told him, anyway. We're all a risk. But we either trust each other, or we don't. And I trust you, Legion. That was good enough."

"Me too," Tali said. The tension in her body faded. As usual, the Commander had taken care of things. But certainly he didn't summon them just to tell them there was no problem.

"Thank you, Shepard-Commander, Creator Tali'Zorah." Legion said. "Our intention is cooperative integration with the _Normandy_ collective."

Tali laughed. "Well I'd say as of today, you're officially part our collective. Right Shepard?"

Shepard smiled at Tali, but it wasn't the same warm, joyous smile she got the night before after reviving Legion. It was half-hearted, fringed with worry and sadness. "I'm afraid it's not that simple," he said.

Tali spotted a scuff mark on the floor and rubbed it with a toe. "It never is, is it? So what's the bad news?"

"Stress indicators have resumed," Legion announced.

"Tali, please," Shepard gestured toward the couch. Tali sat down next to Legion, likewise completely straight and on the edge of the cushion. Whatever Shepard was about to say, Legion's future on the Normandy was undoubtedly in jeopardy. He moved to stand directly across from them. "Right now, the SSV _Shenyang_ is picking up representatives of Alliance diplomatic corps at Arcturus Station. In eight hours, we will rendezvous with the _Shenyang_ at the Utopia mass relay, after which she will proceed directly to the quarian Migrant Fleet for an audience with the Admiralty Board."

He paused, looking both of them in the eye in turn. "You two are going to be aboard her."

Tali's respirator sputtered with her sudden attempt to inhale her mask. "What?"

Shepard found it hard to face his engineer once again. He walked around the table next to the geth and sat on the flat surface. "Now Legion, whatever you do, stay on the _Shenyang._ Under no circumstances are you to let the quarians move negotiations to the flotilla."

"Commander?" Tali stood but found her legs had gone shaky.

Shepard ignored her. "There's an Admiral on the Board named Xen who wants you in the worst way. But you're under diplomatic protection as long as you stay on the _Shenyang_. If they try to take you off, it will be considered an act of war against the Alliance and they know it. We won't let them take you, ok?"

"Shepard!" Tali slammed the table with the palms of her hands.

Shepard stood and looked at Tali, his face stern and resolved, then back to the geth. "Do you understand, Legion?"

"Acknowledged," Legion said, looking back and forth between the Commander and the Chief Engineer.

"You can't do this," Tali gasped.

Shepard put his hand on her shoulder. "It's already done, Tali. I talked to Anderson last night and told him everything that happened. He took it on himself to make some inquiries. This morning, the Admiralty Board accepted an Alliance proposal to act as mediators and provide a neutral meeting ground. They specifically instructed that you be there, and as your captain, that I tell you. You're going home."

Tali sank slowly back down to the couch.

"I'm sorry," Shepard said. He knew she would take the news hard, and wished he had more time to prepare her. "I didn't find out about all this until just a few minutes ago, and they want to start negotiations right away."

"Shepard-Commander?" Legion said.

"Yes," Shepard sighed.

"The geth were not consulted about these negotiations."

"I know, Legion." Shepard walked to his desk and picked up his omnitool. "I've got a data pack for you from Counselor Anderson outlining the details, as well as a proposal for direct talks with the Alliance."

Legion's omnitool rendered into the air around its wrist. "Standing by to receive download. We require secure access to our network for retransmission."

"EDI, open the channel," Shepard said as he sent the information to Legion's omni.

Tali looked up. The negotiations were useless if only one side was in attendance. "What if they don't accept? Do we still have to go?"

"We accept these proposals," Legion said. "Negotiations with the creators will commence immediately with Systems Alliance mediation. Separate negotiations with the Alliance will follow."

Shepard sat down next to the quarian. The geth's lack of bureaucracy robbed her of any chance she had to think of a way out of it. "Look, I don't like this any more than you. I don't want to lose you, Tali. But think about what's at stake for your people. You can help end a war. Help your people get home."

Tali stared at the table. "And where are you going to be," she asked, her voice strained.

"We've still got our mission. As soon as they crack the IFF, we're going through Omega Four."

Tali leaned back, her hands around her mask. Being recalled to the fleet was the last thing she expected from this meeting. After her trial, they couldn't be rid of her fast enough. Just like before, everything had already been decided for her by the Admiralty Board. She had no say in the matter. But this time Shepard himself was going along with it.

"Shepard-Commander?" Legion buzzed.

"What?"

"This mobile platform's physical presence is not required for negotiations to commence. We will provide direct communication protocols for the geth network to Alliance diplomatic resources. We will then accompany the Normandy through the Omega Four relay."

"That's right," Tali said. "We don't have to be there. And if he doesn't go, I'm not going."

"You two don't seem to get it," Shepard stood and paced back and forth. "Having you there, _both of you_, in person is part of the negotiations. Like it or not, Legion, you're the new face of the geth by virtue of being the only mobile platform outside of the Veil. But you've shown the geth are willing to work with organics toward a common good, which is something all organics need to see. And Tali? You're the daughter of an Admiral, an honest-to-goodness hero of the battle of the Citadel and probably the greatest expert on the geth. Quarians and humans alike will listen to you when you tell them what you've seen. Most important, you're already talking to each other. The barriers have already come down! You can show the others the way."

Legion's head plates cycled through several configurations. Tali still stared at the top of the table. Shepard shook his head in amazement. "This is incredible. How can you not be excited about what might come about from this?"

"Excited?" Tali looked up at Shepard.

"Yeah!"

"Let me tell you about excitement!" Tali rose to her feet and stood faceplate-to-nose with Shepard, "I left my ship once before, and then went to her captain's funeral. It was the worst experience of my life. Nothing else comes close. And every single day I wondered what I could have done if only I had been there, if I could have made a difference. I will not go through that again! If you die now, I will be standing at your side, not over another empty casket!"

"Tali-" Shepard tried to put his hands on her shoulders, but she flung them away.

"Tali, Tali, Tali," Tali shouted, on the verge of tears. "I am _Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. _There is nothing more important than my ship, my crew, or my captain. You will not go through the relay without me. I won't let you!"

For once, Shepard was the one left speechless. It was only on rare occasions he got close enough to make any detail in Tali's face, especially in her eyes. Windows to the soul, Shepard had always heard. Ordinarily, hers were filled with a shy awkwardness that reminded him of the young girl who joined his crew two years before. Now he saw a soul on the verge of destruction, with him destroying it by sending her away from ship before what could be its most dangerous mission. His rebuttal died in his throat.

"Shepard-Commander?" The geth asked during the silence that followed, still sitting on the couch.

Shepard blinked, staring at his distorted reflection in Tali's faceplate. He was losing patience with the geth's interruptions. "What is it, Legion?"

"The destinies of the creator species and the geth are uncertain, regardless of our participation in negotiation. However, If the old machines return, the future of the entire galactic population will be in jeopardy. Mutual cooperation against the old machines is of highest priority."

"That's right," Shepard said. "That's why you and the quarians need to settle things, before the reapers come back."

"Shepard-Commander is in error." Legion buzzed. "Creator Tali'Zorah's presence during negotiations may increase the probability of a settlement, but does not guarantee it. In addition, she is not the only entity capable of carrying out negotiations."

Shepard stared at the geth, at the same time aware of Tali's unyielding gaze.

Legion pressed on. "The _Normandy_ is the only resource currently allocated to the task of pursuing the collectors and stopping the old machines from returning. Creator Tali'Zorah's experience as chief engineer is irreplaceable and substantially increases the chances for mission success." It rose and stood next to Tali. "If Shepard-Commander's primary objective is protection of the largest percentage of the galaxy's population, Creator Tali'Zorah must remain aboard the _Normandy."_

Tali's chest heaved with a giant exhalation, her gaze never wavering from Shepard's eyes. He finally turned and walked towards his bed, his his fingers drumming against his scalp, deep in thought. He looked back at Tali and Legion, who watched him expectantly. For the first time, he noticed how similar they were. He'd never actually seen them standing side by side, probably because Tali put so much effort into avoiding Legion. The resemblance was uncanny... The proportion of their limbs, their hands and feet, the shape of their heads. The quarians had made the geth in their own image, but over three centuries, the geth maintained the appearance.

And the similarities weren't just physical. Two mortal enemies were now fighting to stay aboard a ship with a commander leading them on a mission which very likely would result in their deaths. With all the governments in the galaxy ignoring the threat, these two individuals were doing everything they could to stay with him and fight, together. "What am I going to do with you two?" he asked.

Tali and Legion watched Shepard expectantly. He pointed toward the pair as he approached them. "OK, here's how this is going to work. If the _Shenyang _calls, you get to the briefing room – no matter what your shipboard duties at the time, if it's in the middle of the night, you're in the can, whatever, you're at their beck and call. You're on their schedule."

Tali bounced up and down excitedly. "Oh, yes! Absolutely!"

"I want updates from the Alliance ambassador every four hours and copies of all your correspondence and all transmissions logged to my console. Don't make me come looking for it."

"You'll have it," Tali put her hands on Shepard's chest. "I swear."

"And if either of you need my help or input on anything, find me."

"Keelah!" Tali cried. "Thank you!"

"We are remaining aboard the _Normandy?"_ Legion asked.

"Yes!" Tali fell against the geth, shaking its arm. "We're staying!"

"Thank you, Shepard-Commander," Legion said, seemingly oblivious to the laughing quarian dangling from its shoulder. "We will comply with your instructions."

Shepard smiled, though it wasn't as happy en expression as it should have been. "All right, I'll let you know from Anderson what the plan is. Dismissed."

Legion walked up the stairs to the exit with Tali behind. She paused on the middle step and looked back at the Commander, who stood with his hands on his hips biting his lower lip. When he saw her stop, he sighed.

"What's wrong?" Tali asked.

"I'm just mentally preparing myself for the response I'm going to get when I tell Udina and the Admiralty Board that they can't have my crew. It's going to be one hell of a conference call."

"I'm sorry," Tali said. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble. Do you want me to stay while you talk to them?"

"Nah. Udina already hates my guts, and it won't be the first time I've told the Admiralty Board to shove it, right?"

Tali giggled. Every time she thought back to Shepard's castigation of the Admiralty Board in front of the Conclave it made her smile.

"Anderson's got my back," Shepard continued. He'll understand. Besides, what's the worst they can do? Send me on some kind of suicide mission?"

Tali stepped down to the base of the stairs. "If they did, I'd go with you."

Shepard turned and smiled, his eyes full of joy but also fear. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, the soft fabric of her hood on his face."I know. You already are. Thank you."

Tali gasped at the embrace. _Thank you for not sending me home, thank you for helping me find peace with Legion, thank you for all of this, _she thought, but as usual none of those sentiments found their way to her lips. All she could manage was to hold onto him, but that was always enough.

"Don't let them waste this," Shepard whispered, squeezing her slightly.

"I wont," Tali said. "I promise."

Shepard pulled back, and Tali reached gingerly out with a finger to wipe away the moisture beneath his eyes. She pulled back at the last second as Shepard wiped it clear with his own hand. "All right," he said and waved to the hatch. "Take your staff back down below and get that core looked at."

"Aye, sir," Tali said and climbed back up the steps, cursing yet another missed opportunity. As she stepped into the corridor, she cast a backwards glance into the Commander's quarters. He had his back to her, sitting at his workstation now, staring at the blank monitor in front of him with his hands locked behind his neck. She let her head fall against the frame of the hatch when a soft electronic buzz erupted from her right.

Legion's fish-eye lens poked from inside the open elevator. Tali looked once more through the hatch before stepping away joining Legion in the lift. "Back to the shop," Tali told it.

They stood in silence as they descended. The exchange with the Commander replayed in Tali's mind. She couldn't tell if it was her own emotional plea that swayed the Commander, or Legion's logical assessment of mission failure if she left, or maybe both. Regardless, a strange feeling lingered. She was overjoyed to be staying aboard the _Normandy_, but what surprised her was she was equally happy that Legion would still be with them.

The geth's head turned toward Tali, and then back to the door as was the preference of most organics as they rode an elevator. She noticed the movement. Was it just a sensory response to something she hadn't heard? Or did it want to say something? Tali prepared to ask, but the ride was almost over. Soon they would be back in Engineering, doing a partial teardown of the drive machinery. She would ask him about it later. For now, she found herself feeling nothing but gratitude where there had been only suspicion, fear and hatred the day before.

The hatch opened to the engineering deck, and she stepped directly in front of the geth, blocking its path. "Thank you," she said into its eye. "For everything."

"You are welcome, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

* * *

_The End - Continued in _**For Tomorrow We Die.**_  
_


End file.
